Dailty Telegraph: Kuchma death plot inquiry
02/09/2001 | Broker
див. також Укр. правда
http://www.pravda.com.ua/?1029-3-7
The Daily Telegraph (London)
Kuchma death plot inquiry
By Ben Aris
PRESIDENT Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine has been questioned by the country's
senior policeman over allegations that he ordered the death of an outspoken
journalist, the prosecutor-general's office said yesterday.
At the centre of the scandal is a tape made by Mr Kuchma's former bodyguard
on a recorder hidden under his office sofa last year. A voice that sounds
like the president's swears and tells security men to "silence" George
Gongadze.
Mr Gongadze, 31, founder of the web-based newspaper Ukrainska Pravda
[Ukrainian Truth], had written extensively about high-level corruption in
the government and criticised the president. His disappearance from his Kiev
home last September was widely blamed at the time on forces close to the
administration.
A beheaded body, found in mid-November in a forest near Kiev, is believed to
be Mr Gongadze's. Officially he is still listed as missing. Yury Boichenko,
spokesman for the prosecutor-general's office said Mr Kuchma was asked about
the authenticity of the tape this month. Mr Boichenko said: "There is a
possibility of bugging, but we cannot establish it as a fact."
Major Mykola Melnichenko, a former Kuchma bodyguard, claims that he planted
a recorder in the president's office last year and recorded hundreds of
hours of conversation. Maj Melnichenko gave the tape to an opposition
leader, Oleksandr Moroz, before fleeing the country.
The prosecutor-general, Mykhailo Potebenko, supported the president in the
ensuing scandal and told parliament last month that his experts were unable
to confirm the voice on the tape as Mr Kuchma's. On Tuesday, 10,000 people
demonstrated outside parliament, calling on Mr Kuchma to step down.
Political sources in Kiev say the affair will not be resolved in the courts
but is part of a wider political fight for control. Mr Kuchma has been
weakened but is still a power to be reckoned with.
http://www.pravda.com.ua/?1029-3-7
The Daily Telegraph (London)
Kuchma death plot inquiry
By Ben Aris
PRESIDENT Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine has been questioned by the country's
senior policeman over allegations that he ordered the death of an outspoken
journalist, the prosecutor-general's office said yesterday.
At the centre of the scandal is a tape made by Mr Kuchma's former bodyguard
on a recorder hidden under his office sofa last year. A voice that sounds
like the president's swears and tells security men to "silence" George
Gongadze.
Mr Gongadze, 31, founder of the web-based newspaper Ukrainska Pravda
[Ukrainian Truth], had written extensively about high-level corruption in
the government and criticised the president. His disappearance from his Kiev
home last September was widely blamed at the time on forces close to the
administration.
A beheaded body, found in mid-November in a forest near Kiev, is believed to
be Mr Gongadze's. Officially he is still listed as missing. Yury Boichenko,
spokesman for the prosecutor-general's office said Mr Kuchma was asked about
the authenticity of the tape this month. Mr Boichenko said: "There is a
possibility of bugging, but we cannot establish it as a fact."
Major Mykola Melnichenko, a former Kuchma bodyguard, claims that he planted
a recorder in the president's office last year and recorded hundreds of
hours of conversation. Maj Melnichenko gave the tape to an opposition
leader, Oleksandr Moroz, before fleeing the country.
The prosecutor-general, Mykhailo Potebenko, supported the president in the
ensuing scandal and told parliament last month that his experts were unable
to confirm the voice on the tape as Mr Kuchma's. On Tuesday, 10,000 people
demonstrated outside parliament, calling on Mr Kuchma to step down.
Political sources in Kiev say the affair will not be resolved in the courts
but is part of a wider political fight for control. Mr Kuchma has been
weakened but is still a power to be reckoned with.