Disappearance of Heorhy Honhadze: Political Intrigue or...?
The Saturday before last at about 10:20 p.m., Heorhy Honhadze, the 31-year-old manager of the Ukrayinska pravda Center for the Protection of Independent Journalists Internet project, was walking home in Kyiv’s Moskovsky district, where he was being waited for by his wife and children who did not have apartment keys at the moment. However, he never showed up.
At 7 p.m. the next Monday, The Day received information from the journalist’s colleagues that an employee of the Georgian Embassy had informed them about a phone call from an unknown man. The latter claimed in accented Russian that Heorhy, safe and sound, had been in Moskovsky district before one p.m. and that three persons in Kyiv were aware of this. He also gave specific names.
Heorhy Honhadze is a well- known journalist distinguished for his independent, sometimes rather unusual, stand, which was always highly critical of the authorities. Ukrayinska pravda is Honhadze’s latest project referred to as flush tank by some and as an example of uncompromising opposition by others.
According to Olena Prytula, Ukrayinska pravda editor-in-chief, and Myroslava, Heorhy’s wife, Honhadze has not received any overt warnings or threats in connection with his work recently.
In July, the journalist sent an online open letter to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, in which he complained that he was allegedly being shadowed by law enforcement authorities and that a number of his colleagues, friends, and his mother living in Lviv had been approached by people who called themselves policemen and sought information about him, explaining this by the need to gather evidence about people who might be implicated in a June 25 criminal showdown in Odesa.
Following disappearance of the Ukrayinska pravda online project manager, the public prosecutor of Kyiv’s Pechersk district opened a criminal case under Article 94 of the Criminal Code concerning premeditated murder, Yuri Smirnov, Kyiv metropolitan police chief, announced. Simultaneously, he noted, “Today we cannot say for sure whether he was killed or is still alive.” Mr. Smirnov said the police were investigating three versions of the journalist’s disappearance: “a crime caused by his unfriendly relationships with a woman,” “on the professional grounds,” and “on the grounds of other personal conflicts.”
There was still no information about Heorhy Honhadze’s whereabouts on the fourth day after his disappearance, except for a mysterious Monday telephone call to the Embassy of Georgia, which named People’s Deputy Oleksandr Volkov among the people allegedly knowing the place where the journalist is being kept.
On Wednesday, Mr. Volkov turned up in parliament at half past eleven and immediately agreed to grant an interview. Thirty seconds later, Mr. Volkov and The Day’s correspondent were surrounded by a huge crowd of the jackals of the pen armed with video cameras. It was obvious that Volkov was prepared for questions, speaking calmly and confidently:
“What is going on is strange. The people who masterminded this provocation think they will get off scot-free. We are certain to find those who are behind this. I am convinced that Honhadze’s disappearance is connected with his work. This is a political case. As for me, this journalist never published anything to compromise Volkov. He never criticized me. He would only reread materials from various publications dating back many years that the Internet is teeming with. This mud has been slung at me for a long time, but Honhadze has nothing to do with it. We must do everything possible to solve this crime as soon as possible. While earlier cases of attempts on the lives of journalists were never concluded, this time we have to do so. This can be done if there is sufficient desire. I say again that this is a political frame-up. I won’t name those behind it. You’d better ask those who make various conjectures, including about me. It is disgusting that dirty political games can affect someone who had nothing to do with them. I very much hope that Honhadze will finally be found safe and sound.”
The lawmaker also expressed his readiness to join a parliamentary investigative commission to be entrusted with studying the circumstances of the journalist’s disappearance, should such a commission be formed. Commenting on the anonymous phone call to the Georgian Embassy, which named Minister of Internal Affairs Kravchenko, Volkov, and a criminal boss among those who might know something about Honhadze’s plight, the Deputy noted that whoever had phoned should in fact comment. Answering the question whether this was a provocation against him, Mr. Volkov rhetorically asked, “And what do you think?” And, stressing that it is “a glaring frame-up,” he said, “But all this was cooked up by professionals who did or still do work in intelligence services, this is 100% clear.”
Last Thursday, Verkhovna Rada set up a provisional commission to investigate the circumstances of the disappearance of Heorhy Honhadze, and a number of other high profile crimes against public and political figures like disappeared Rukh Deputy Head Mykhailo Boichyshyn, gunned down People’s Deputy Yevhen Shcherban, wounded head of Ukrahrotekhservis (Ukrainian Agricultural Technical Service) Volodymyr Bortnyk, and murdered Stock Exchange Chairman Vadym Hetman. The commission is to report within ten days period to parliament on their work.
Parliament journalists walked out of the press box in Verkhovna Rada. The decision on such a form of protest was made after hearing the report presented by Yuri Karmazyn, chairman, and the Committee to Combat Organized Crime and Corruption, who related the measures undertaken by law enforcement bodies to find out the circumstances of the disappearance of independent journalist Heorhy Honhadze.
Zerkalo nedeli Deputy Editor-in-Chief Yuliya Mostova presented an appeal of the journalists accredited to Verkhovna Rada requesting that the Commission include no Deputies who had been repeatedly mentioned by Heorhy in critical materials. “We demand that the commission be headed by a person who enjoys journalists’ confidence and has higher legal education, People’s Deputy Oleksandr Lavrynovych,” the appeal reads.
However, on Thursday Director of the Department to Combat Organized Crime Mykola Dzhyha made a symbolic (and absurd) statement that he ruled out the possibility of a political version of what had happened! The only argument supplied was that “Giya” was not “socially dangerous.”
Such absolutely uncalled-for statements denying the right to exist for one of the versions — what is this? Helplessness of the authorities, but why? Because of their lack of professionalism, pressure, or some taboos on our Ministry of Internal Affairs and Security Service? And the hasty disavowal of Dzhyha’s statements by Minister Yuri Kravchenko himself — now from Kharkiv — only supports the, well, pertinence of such questions for our law enforcement bodies. As US Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer said last Friday at a lunchtime reception with some Kyiv journalists, no law enforcement body in the world could state its refusal to pursue any tentative version without providing some justification for ruling it out. The ambassador also gave the reporters to understand that he attributes the situation to the conditions in Ukraine (or their adsence) concerning the safe and high quality performance of their professional duties by journalists, and that if law enforcement bodies did not clear up the situation concerning Heorhy Honhadze’s disappearance within a certain period, Ukraine’s image the world will be seriously damaged.
P.S. Last Saturday a demonstration under a motto “Find journalist Heorhy Honhadze!” was held on Independence Square. Over a thousand signatures were collected under an appeal that read, “The authorities must fulfill their duties and promises. Find journalist Heorhy Honhadze!” On Saturday evening another demonstration started on Independence Square, a torchlight procession under a banner reading, “Who’s next?” The demonstrators proceeded along Khreshchatyk to the Besarabian Market.
