Ex-Ukraine leader linked to reporter's murder

MOSCOW - A high-level parliamentary commission in Ukraine has accused former president Leonid Kuchma and his closest aides of master-minding the macabre murder of Georgiy Gongadze, the country's most famous investigative journalist.

Mr Gongadze's decapitated body was found in a forest outside Kiev two weeks after he was abducted in September 2000 whilst working on an in investigation into allegations of corruption at the heart of Mr Kuchma's government.

Mr Gongadze, 31, a co-founder of crusading internet newspaper Ukrainskaya Pravda, had been beaten, strangled and his body then burnt and beheaded.

Three former policemen are in custody in connection with the murder and have apparently confessed. The case was reopened after The Independent published leaked documents showing police had followed Mr Gongadze until the moment of his disappearance and had probably been involved in his abduction.

However, despite a slew of rumours, those who ordered his killing have never officially been named let alone brought to justice.

Nor has his missing head been found or his body buried. The case has become a litmus test for the troubled administration of President Viktor Yushchenko which promised to solve the murder only to then seemingly drag its feet.

Controversially there have been suggestions that Mr Yushchenko struck a deal with his predecessor, Mr Kuchma, to leave him in peace - let alone prosecute him.

The parliamentary commission, headed by MP Grigoriy Omelchenko, said, however, that it had found "unanimously" that Mr Kuchma and his closest aides were behind Mr Gongadze's abduction.

It accused Volodomyr Lytvyn, then Mr Kuchma's Chief of Staff and now the current speaker in parliament, of also being involved.

Both Mr Kuchma and Mr Lytvyn deny the accusations. The commission said its findings were based on an authenticated recording of Mr Kuchma, Mr Lytvyn and others discussing Mr Gongadze before his murder.

Mr Kuchma is heard ordering his subordinates to "take care" of the troublesome journalist and complaining about his work.

The recording was made by Mr Kuchma's former bodyguard. Mr Kuchma has acknowledged that it is his voice but claims that the tape has been doctored. The commission's findings will be passed on to prosecutors.



- INDEPENDENT