Prosecutor General Promises to Bring the Gongadze Case to the Court
After last Tuesday’s press conference given by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Sviatoslav Piskun it is safe to say that there has been some progress in the investigation of the murder of journalist Heorhy Gongadze. Mr. Piskun informed journalists that the Prosecutor General’s Office is aware “how and when Heorhy Gongadze was killed” and that it is absolutely confident that the body found in the Tarashcha Forest belongs to the journalist. In the prosecutor general’s view, this became obvious from the conclusions of the Chief Forensic Bureau at the Health Ministry. It should be noted that the document is signed by ten national experts whose seniority varies from ten to forty years. The expert examination was held without the participation of any foreign specialists. “There was no need for this,” Mr. Piskun said, stressing that injuries on the journalist’s body were caused when he was still alive. “The date of his death has been precisely fixed,” the prosecutor general said, however without disclosing it because of the existence of “some issues preventing this.”
Speaking of the investigators’ work, Mr. Piskun claimed that “fundamental steps have been made in this case.” According to him, the steps were so fundamental that he would not even hint about what they led to. However, thanks to the journalists’ joint efforts it became possible to elucidate a number of major issues. First, prosecutor of the Tarashcha region, Kyiv oblast (in which territory the murdered journalist’s body was discovered) Serhiy Obozov was arrested recently by the Prosecutor General’s Office “in connection with investigation of the Gongadze case.” Mr. Obozov and one of his office’s investigators were charged with malfeasance. “They are not the last officials who will be arrested in this case,” Mr. Piskun promised.
Moreover, he confirmed the fact that after the change of the Prosecutor General’s Office leadership investigating the Gongadze case was started “virtually from scratch.” “We surveyed the ground where the body lay and found the necessary evidence,” he noted, proving his confidence that such evidence was now two years old. In his words, search for Gongadze’s head is still in process. “The investigation has versions partially corroborated with the collected proof,” he said. Mr. Piskun did not say how much the conclusions of the new investigative group differ from the previous one’s, however claiming that its experts’ level of expertise was insufficient and that the results of the new investigation coincide with the conclusions drawn in the USA, while the results of the expert examination of the Melnychenko tapes made in this country “are assigned to the Gongadze case materials.” Being asked when this case would be brought to court, Mr. Piskun said that it will happen in the nearest future, adding that “journalists will be informed immediately when it happens.”
With other infamous cases the situation is much clearer. It appeared that the Prosecutor General’s Office has already finished investigating the criminal case of the plane crash at Sknyliv Military Airport in Lviv. At the end of October it will be brought to the court together with the proof of some officials’ fault. At the end of this month, the prosecutor general promised, ten cases of accidents at coal mines will be also passed to court instances. Mr. Piskun recalled that the Prosecutor General’s Office is also proceeding with the investigation on the facts of “illegal construction” by Kyiv City Administration.
