Former minister's death 'may be linked' to journalist's killing

Ukraine’s former Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko was found dead today, hours before prosecutors were to question him about the killing of an investigative journalist five years ago, officials said.

President Viktor Yushchenko said Kravchenko’s death could be linked to the investigation into the killing of internet journalist Heorhiy Gongadze, who investigated Ukrainian government corruption.

Kravchenko had been implicated in organising the killing, and had been summoned to give testimony to prosecutors at 10am (8am Irish time) today.

Gongadze was abducted in Kiev in September 2000, and his decapitated body was found months later buried in a forest outside the capital. His death sparked months of protests against former President Leonid Kuchma, who the opposition alleged had ordered the killing. Kuchma, who is currently at a spa in the Czech Republic, has denied any involvement.

A spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry, Inna Kisel, said Kravchenko’s death was an apparent suicide. Ukraine’s TV5 reported the 54-year-old former police official had shot himself at his country residence in an exclusive neighbourhood outside Kiev.

Kisel refused to provide any other information, referring all questions to the Prosecutor General’s Office. Vyacheslav Ostapov, spokesman for the Prosecutor General’s Office, said he had “no information at the moment”.

Yushchenko issued a written statement saying the investigation into Kravchenko’s death “must be conducted in a transparent and professional manner and in full accordance with law”. He said he had ordered Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun to take personal control of the inquiry.

The allegations against Kuchma in relation to Gongadze’s death were based on recordings a former presidential bodyguard said were made secretly in Kuchma’s office. In the tapes, Kuchma was overheard repeatedly complaining about Gongadze’s reporting and ordering Kravchenko to “drive him out, throw (him) out, give him to the Chechens”.

Volodymyr Lytvyn, Kuchma’s former chief-of-staff, was also allegedly heard on the tapes saying: “In my opinion, let loose Kravchenko to use alternative methods.”

Kuchma and his circle have disputed the authenticity of the tapes. Lytvyn, the current parliament speaker, dismissed the allegations in an interview with The Associated Press, saying “I wasn’t brought up that way.” He said yesterday he was ready to testify in connection with the case.

Kuchma’s spokeswoman, Olena Hromnytska, said the former president had no immediate comment on Kravchenko’s death. “Let’s wait for the results of the investigation,” she said.

Yushchenko, who was elected in December, has made solving Gongadze’s killing a top priority for his government. On Wednesday, Piskun, the prosecutor general, said investigators had identified all four people involved in Gongadze’s killing and knew who was the mastermind. He refused to identify the person who ordered the killing.

Two of the suspected killers are in custody, one is under orders not to leave Kiev and the fourth, senior police official Oleksiy Pukach, is wanted on an international warrant, Piskun said. All were employed by Ukraine’s Interior Ministry.

Ukraine’s Segodnya newspaper reported Kravchenko had been put under official surveillance in December and ordered not to leave Ukraine.

Hryhoriy Omelchenko, an MP who has repeatedly focused public attention on the need to solve Gongadze’s killing, told The Associated Press he had asked the prosecutor to detain Kravchenko more than a month ago.

“The arrest would have been a way to protect Kravchenko,” he said. “If he had been arrested, he would be alive.”

On Monday, a man identified as a key witness in the case, Yuriy Nesterov, was reportedly wounded when an unidentified assailant threw a hand-grenade at him. Another key witness, former police officer Ihor Honcharov, died in prison two years ago under suspicious circumstances. He had implicated Nesterov in kidnapping, torturing and killing Gongadze.

Kravchenko’s death is the second mysterious death of a former senior government official since Yushchenko’s election victory. The former transport minister was found dead in December near his country house outside Kiev in an apparent suicide.