The information blockade on television after the attempt on Natalia Vitrenko has turned into an information attack, rather a propaganda offensive, because nothing new about the act of terrorism is reported. It is simply that every news release reminds the viewers of the official version and offers video scenes with thoughtful commentary. And the accused is given no chance to speak (not only in the course of investigation but even before it started). Below, the Editors try to bridge this gap, offering information received from Kryvy Rih after a news conference of the local Socialist Party of Ukraine headquarters.
The reader will please bear in mind that the following views are not necessarily those of the editors, and that this is purely a case of giving the floor to one of the parties concerned.
Valery Romanov, activist in Oleksandr Moroz's Kryvy Rih headquarters and head of the local branch of the All-Ukraine Human Rights Committee:
We arrived in Kryvy Rih about 3:45 p.m. Inna Chyrchenko and two other comrades drove off to Inhulets where presidential candidate Natalia Vitrenko was meeting with voters. I stayed in the office.
Inna Chyrchenko and Serhiy Ivanchenko (accused of organizing the attempt on Vitrenko —Ed. ) returned at approximately 9:00 p.m. I should note here that the media (the government channels) are lying saying that Ivanchenko is hiding out. On October 1, I saw Serhiy Ivanchenko being informed about a road accident involving his father, mother, and a child aged a year and a half in his native Rostov oblast (Russia). Their Gazelle van collided with a tractor driven by a drunk driver. The Gazelle's cab was crumpled but miraculously no one inside was mortally wounded. His mother called and told him what had happened. Serhiy wanted to drive there immediately, but talked him out of it, saying it was too late and that after hearing the bad news he had better rest. He agreed and said he would go to Rostov oblast on October 2.
And so he drove off in his Volga immediately after he had arrived from the meeting with Vitrenko, headed for the Ukrainian-Russian border and on to Rostov. Several minutes after he left three more persons, canvassers, appeared in the office. UT-1 was on and at 9:30 we heard about the attempt on Natalia Vitrenko in Kryvy Rih and that two residents of Rostov oblast were arrested. I told everybody to stay in the office, because all things considered the militia could come for us at any moment.
They turned up some 25 minutes later: Colonel Symanko, head of the city militia department, and several militiamen with submachine guns. Mr. Symanko calmly told us that he was taking us to the district precinct for questioning. We were taken there at 10:30 p.m., and we all made statements. Under the law they could question us only until 10:00 p.m., so I suggested that they let us go until the next morning. They did not question the men for long, finishing about five in the morning. Inna Chyrchenko was interrogated from about 10:30 p.m. until 6:00 the next day.
What did they want from us? Practically all their questions boiled down to how we organized and carried out this act of terrorism. Naturally, I told them that it was a frame-up and that none of our comrades could have taken part.
Inna Chyrchenko, editor of the newspaper Kryvoi Rog vecherny
We were delayed in Dnipropetrovsk somewhat, so when our minibus stopped at the Kryvy Rih headquarters it was empty. We — Ihor Bohdanov (in charge of the Moroz campaign HQ in Inhulets), Oleh Zubrytsky (Dzerzhinsky District operator), myself, and the driver — drove to Inhulets. We found practically all our people by the entrance to the House of Culture of the Inhulets Ore Enrichment Plant. Then we walked into the audience. Practically all our canvassers remained standing, so everyone could see them. It was just as Natalia Vitrenko was talking about how she would send all those pensioners in power to reservations; Symonenko to the coal mine where he got started, and Moroz, with his tearful poems and cheap stories, to his ailing wife. “All 14 candidates are weak. Are they real men? You vote for me, a woman. Here I stand before you,” she said, and it was then our boys raised another poster reading “Political Crook.” Natalia Vitrenko responded rather harshly: “So how much did they pay you? You'll walk out of here, and they'll hit you in the face. I won't touch you, but others will.” Some applauded, others booed.
We held up this poster practically until the end of the meeting. We stood in a tight group. Some five minutes before the end of the rally I told Serhiy, “Maybe we should leave earlier?” He said no.
With the meeting over, all of us headed for the exit. In the street Serhiy Ivanchenko said, “See if all of us are here and who is missing.” I looked around and said that Oleksandr Afanasiev, the driver, Volodymyr Ivanchenko, Serhiy's brother, and Andriy (both from Rostov oblast) were missing. Serhiy said that maybe they were by the car, so we went there. Our Nissan was parked near apartment buildings, for there was no parking space near the House of Culture. As we approached the car we saw that it was empty. We sat on a pipe nearby, discussing Vitrenko's speech. Several minutes later we heard two loud bangs sounding like loud firecrackers. Somebody joked that we ought to get out of here fast. Then our driver walked over. Serhiy told everybody to get in the Nissan, and that he and I would drive in his personal Volga. It was parked by the druzhyna [neighborhood watch] building. We had to cross the square, past the House of Culture. We saw a crowd of women shouting and gesticulating.
We asked what had happened. Someone said, “They blew up Vitrenko.”
“Vitrenko? What do you mean? What happened?” I asked.
“They blew her guts out.”
People were being driven away from the scene, so we went to the car.
Later we heard on UT-1 about the arrest of two residents of Rostov oblast.
“Where is Volodymyr?” I asked Oleksandr (the driver —Ed. ).
“Didn't you take them with you? He said. “I thought they were in the Volga with you.”
Symanko appeared 10 minutes later. “I have bad news, Inna”, he told me. Serhiy's brother Volodymyr and another man are under arrest. What are you up to? What did you do this time? You will have to come with me.”
Oleksandr Hychko, Oleksandr Moroz's election agent, Constituency No. 32:
We don't know whether Serhiy Ivanchenko made it to his parents. We have no such information.
Inna Chyrchenko:
One of Natalia Vitrenko's people (I will not identify him for reasons of personal safety) was with us at the scene when the tragedy occurred. He is in the hospital on the critical list. He said he had seen precisely who hurled the grenades and that those currently accused of the act of terrorism are different people. He is ready to testify, but only at the General Prosecutor's Office.
Natalia Sokurenko, Natalia Vitrenko's election agent, eyewitness:
I don't know who did the political contract job on October 2, but I am sure that Kuchma's people played leading roles in this criminal performance. This is my personal opinion as an eyewitness. And you know what? I saw someone press a bloody palm to Kuchma's portrait, meaning that I am not alone in my assumption.
The act was well planned, because there was a dark blue Peugeot 605 tailing the car with Vitrenko's election agent Olha Krykunenko of the 33rd Constituency. The Peugeot's license plate read 07515 KB. And local law enforcement failed to make proper security arrangements. In fact, there was only one militiaman in evidence (a sergeant, also on the critical list). It was some time after the explosions when an ambulance came, and it had absolutely no medical supplies, not even dressings or stretchers. The wounded were bandaged with napkins.
special to The Day
from Kryvy Rih
—NB! The Day's Vadym RYZHKOV reports that in 1998 Serhiy Ivanchenko led the Dnipropetrovsk oblast organization of the Party of Economic Renaissance. It is known that this party with its core in the Crimea, during the last parliamentary election campaign joined the NEP bloc, which was then controlled by presidential assistant Oleksandr Volkov. As a result of an unequal struggle with Pustovoitenko's NDP, NEP failed to surmount the 4% barrier needed for parliamentary representation. After this the Party of Economic Renaissance was dissolved because its leaders were either in hiding (Shevyov, Danyliov, etc.) or were in prison (Voronok, leader of the Crimea's Salem organized crime group).
In May of this year Serhiy Ivanchenko signed up with Moroz's Truth Against Force bloc, becoming head of the organization's Kryvy Rih city branch and a campaign representative of candidate Moroz. Dnipropetrovsk socialists state that Serhiy Ivanchenko intended to join the Socialist Party but the city committee refused.






