9-year-long quest for the truth
About 200 people gathered on the Maidan to pay homage to Gongadze. They all demanded unbiased and fair investigation in his case. They wore black armbands with the inscriptions “I demand justice!” and “Aren’t you ashamed, Ukraine?” They put up posters with Gongadze sketched in profile and placed candles on the asphalt forming his first name — Giya.
On September 16 Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv hosted a rally in memory of the slain journalist Georgy Gongadze and other journalists murdered in the years of Ukraine’s independence.
Nine years ago Ukrainska Pravda’s journalist Gongadze was kidnapped and murdered, yet those who ordered his assassination remain unpunished, except for three former officers of the Department of External Surveillance and Criminal Intelligence of Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, who are now serving 12–13-year prison terms. Another person involved in the Gongadze case, Oleksii Pukach, who headed the Interior Ministry’s Surveillance Department at the time, was arrested not so long ago. Criminal investigation is underway.
About 200 people gathered on the Maidan to pay homage to Gongadze. They all demanded unbiased and fair investigation in his case. They wore black armbands with the inscriptions “I demand justice!” and “Aren’t you ashamed, Ukraine?” They put up posters with Gongadze sketched in profile and placed candles on the asphalt forming his first name—Giya. They said they were paying homage not only to Gongadze but also to 63 other journalists who have died since 1991. After a minute of silence they placed flowers at the foot of the monument to Gongadze and other journalists who had died in obscure circumstances. The Kyiv rally was followed by a similar one in Lviv, where Gongadze had studied.
Poorly masked relationships between authorities and journalists
Reflections following the Maidan rally
When we were on Independence Square to pay homage to Gongadze and other slain journalists, one of my colleagues asked me: “Has the government changed its attitude to journalists?” It was a logical question, considering that many of the murdered journalists lost their lives precisely because of the aggressive, ineffective or indifferent attitude of the authorities. One of the implicit tasks of these rallies is to influence the public opinion and use it to gain respect from the authorities.
Our journalists were physically destroyed in an open and cynical manner, which is most vividly ed by the cases of Georgy Gongadze and Igor Aleksandrov. Our journalists had to choose between being bullied and resisting so they could be respected. The latter happened in 2004-05, when those in power were surprised to note the courageous stand taken by news hounds who started campaigning for their legitimate rights.
The upper echelons of power suddenly realized that some in the fourth estate not only refused to carry out instructions they received by phone from “upstairs” but were also prepared to struggle to defend the freedom of the press. Naturally, members of parliament and others who defended the interests of the ruling elite had some food for thought and figured out a way to behave so as not to antagonize the media people, lest they start making waves again. And so it is no longer possible for Bankova Street to send down instructions to the media. The president, the prime minister, and MPs keep talking about the freedom of expression, nearly promising to sacrifice their lives to secure it. Meanwhile, our journalists do not seem to harbor any illusions; they realize that those currently in power can demonstrate their respect and loyal attitude to them, but this will not be an expression of their sincere convictions. They will do so remembering the recent precedent and being aware that the journalist may well start “misbehaving” again.
It is also true that our politicians are not good enough at masking their true intentions. Suffice it to recall a recent incident—Communist MP Oleksandr Tkachenko assaulted STB TV Channel’s reporter Olha Chervakova. While he held the speaker’s post, Tkachenko made no secret of his hatred toward journalists and banned them access to the second floor where MPs have meetings. If this directive had been valid at the time of the Tkachenko–Chervakova incident, the journalist would have had no way to approach Tkachenko and pose her awkward question, while he would not have snatched her microphone and hurled it at the floor. In other words, the reporter’s equipment would have been intact and the MP’s dignity—unharmed. The general public would not have received an answer to an important question, but from the standpoint of a rank-and-file parliamentarian, society would need this answer perhaps only when it suited the parliamentarian.
However, the relations between the members of parliament and journalists are the tip of the iceberg. The lower-ranking bureaucrats, who do not have to reckon with public opinion, demonstrate an even greater degree of disrespect for the journalist profession. Characteristically, the police look the other way when journalists are being physically abused, prevent them from doing their job, or go through the motions of investigating a crime against a journalist.
A fresh case is point is an incident in Nova Kakhovka (Kherson oblast). On Sept. 3, 2009, UNIAN press photographer Vitalii Danylchenko was assaulted while investigating the conflict at the local cognac plant. He ended up in a hospital with brain concussion, a fractured toe, and other bodily injuries. He said the investigating officers tried to persuade him to say that he was not doing his job at the scene, in which case the people who had assaulted him would be facing lighter changes under the Criminal Code. Danylchenko refused. The human rights activist Oleh Martynenko offers several versions of what actually happened while not ruling out the possibility that certain ranking officials are interested in protecting the people who assaulted the press photographer.
Journalists often protest this treatment, and their efforts have produced some results. Not so long ago a group of unidentified individuals assaulted the Magnolia TV film crew while they were filming a traffic accident in Kyiv. The assailants wanted to remove a person directly involved in the accident from the crime scene and attacked the crew when they saw them videoing what was happening. The police silently watched them. The following day the policemen who had been present at the crime scene were fired. This was indeed some punishment but a mild one—like reprimanding a criminal instead of sending him to jail. In this case the policemen violated the Law of Ukraine “On Police,” which says they must intervene in conflicts and prevent them. A failure to do this is a criminal offence requiring appropriate punishment. In other words, firing these policemen appears to be a measure aimed at keeping the journalist community quiet.
I seriously doubt that this measure will keep us quiet. Even if they succeed in lulling us into sleep, our journalist consciousness will still wake up after another instance of such brutality.
