A Raw Nerve: Myroslava Gongadze’s New Book

Last Friday Myroslava, widow of assassinated journalist Heorhiy Gongadze, appeared before her fellow journalists in the new role of published author. In collaboration with her Radio Liberty Washington-bureau colleague Serhiy Kudelia, Ms. Gongadze has written a book called A Raw Nerve: The Chronology of a Public Protest, which was launched at Kyiv Mohyla Academy.

The book examines the sociopolitical circumstances that prompted huge masses of people to demonstrate in the streets. In Myroslava Gongadze’s view, her husband’s assassination was the immediate cause of the protests, when the populace began to distinguish between “us,” i.e., the people, and “them,” i.e., the government.

One of the main conclusions in the book is that the protest movement of 2000-2001 brought about changes in the Ukrainian people’s mentality, which in turn triggered domestic transformations in Ukraine and forced President Leonid Kuchma to bow out. Ms. Gongadze said that she and her co-author used a large number of political science publications, especially Western ones. At the same time, she demurely confessed that she thinks it’s too soon to call herself a scholar. Ms. Gongadze also denied the allegation that this research is the first step toward a career in politics. Responding to a quotation from The Day, she said that her main goal is to gain a better understanding of the political developments that occurred in that period, as well as the attitudes of Ukrainian politicians at the time.

Ms. Gongadze’s appearance before the media was not confined to her book, although she displayed the greatest enthusiasm when answering questions about her new publication. Myroslava also shared her impressions of her meetings with top Ukrainian officials. She admitted that she had never had a high opinion of the performance of Prosecutor-General Sviatoslav Piskun. Be that as it may, the other day Mr. Piskun showed her some documents that prove that his activities in investigating the Gongadze case were “at least one of the factors that caused his first dismissal.” So she expects the prosecutor-general to achieve further results in the investigation into her husband’s murder. Ms. Gongadze was also reassured by this country’s highest-ranking officials, including President Viktor Yushchenko, that not only the perpetrators but also the inspirers and organizers of Heorhiy Gongadze’s assassination will be found. At the journalists’ request, she also expressed her current view of why the authorities targeted none other than her husband. Heorhiy was too outspoken and self-confident and, unlike some of his opposition-minded colleagues, he never sought protection by establishing personal ties with representatives of the upper crust. An interesting fact: in 1999 journalist Vyacheslav Pikhovshek tried to persuade Gongadze to tone down his criticism of the government because he was going to get into trouble. But Heorhiy ignored this advice. “He was doing what he thought was correct, no matter what anybody thought,” Myroslava added. She still has not ruled out the possibility that her husband might have been liquidated because he had obtained some very sensitive information.