Ukraine detains suspects in journalist beheading

Ukrainian authorities today detained suspects for the beheading of a prominent internet journalist who had revealed top-level corruption in the former regime.

“The killers were detained and they are giving information to the investigators,” said president Viktor Yushchenko.

Heorhiy Gongadze’s writing focussed on corruption during the reign of Yushchenko’s predecessor, Leonid Kuchma.

He was abducted in Kiev in September 2000, and his decapitated body found buried in a forest outside the city.

His death sparked months of protests against Kuchma, whom the opposition alleged was involved in the killing.

Yushchenko has also accused Kuchma’s government of “sheltering Gongadze’s killers”.

Kuchma denies the allegations.