Talk:Georgiy Gongadze

The trial

I added: "Right now a trail in Kiev is taken place, two policeman ar charged with killing Georgiy Gongadze.", that is true right? I must admit the case has become a bit confusing for me... Mariah-Yulia 23:16, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Please do not add directly to article things about which you are not sure yourself whether they are right. In such cases, raise the issue at talk. --Irpen 00:41, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

You are right (again ;)) but this time I looked it up (sourse: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4593938.stm), it's all correct now, unless the BBC lied about it, but I don't believe that. Mariah-Yulia 02:34, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

The works

I restored the vandalized link pointing on Gongadze's page of his latest Web-project. The link added by vandal is preserved but reformatted.

People watch this guy as well as the Web-page added by him. Note that a lot of politicians, PR-agents and intelligence guys from a dozen countries pursuit their interests over Gongadze's dead body. E.g. "delogongadze" site presents the collection of photocopied interrogation protocols which are supposed to be investigation secret until the case is closed (so is that all, where is the rest, qui prodest). People who established it do not disclose their identity (may be because they commited a crime of stealing those stuff). Anyway watch them thoroughly.

Added an explanation on the different name spelling in English. AlexPU 11:16, 4 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I didn't mean the vandalize the page, but the link Ukrayins'ka pravda's Web-page dedicated to Gongadze and his case seems dead and sends to the main page [1], btw in the mean time i found the correct one.

First it is stated he was born in Georgia. Later on, in the section about the various transcriptions of his name, it is stated he was born in Ukraine. Which one is true? Stupid girl 06:08, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)

He was born in Tiflis, Georgia. --Steschke 08:04, 2005 Mar 5 (UTC)

I think maybe a Georgian version of spelling his name might help.

Reporters killed in Ukraine

Guys, this section is a little bit irrelevant here. Just make a new article or section of a new article, and link them from here. BTW, if you tried to establish context for this article, this may be wrong. To the best of my professional knowledge, Gongadze's case is a kind of exception. See, dozens of journalists in Ukraine were killed, assaulted or expelled. But only Gongadze's fate has been noticed, despite the fact that he was neither most critical to Kuchma nor best known. I think he was just a "random" victim for a provokation.AlexPU 21:36, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

You are welcome to make a new article, and move the text there. I have had several new articles deleted, so I am always hesitant to make them.Travb (talk) 01:52, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

• I too would make a new article - and then one about each of these journalists individually. Then have a template at the bottom of each article with all their names included plus date of death. Malick78 (talk) 17:18, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Timeline

I wrote a paper for my IR class about the Gongadze scandal, with a very heavily reseached timeline. I was thinking of maybe creating a timeline on this page, similar to the Business_Plot#Timeline_of_events timeline I helped make. What do you all think?

Signed:Travb (talk) 06:54, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Here is the timeline:

Summary of events

(US Embassy and general diplomatic US response are distinguished by an asterisk *)

April 2000 In April 2000 Heorhiy Gongadze, a Ukrainian journalist, co-founded the online newspaper "Ukrayinska Pravda" ("Ukrainian Truth") (http://pravda.com.ua/en). The online journal produced a range of investigative articles critical of the Kuchma government and Ukraine’s oligarchs.[1]

June 2000 Gongadze writes an open letter to the prosecutor-general stating that he had been forced into hiding because of harassment from the Ukrainian secret police.

September 2000 Gongadze disappears on September 16, 2000. After strong public pressure, parliament orders an inquiry into the disappearance on September 21, 2000.[3]

* October 2000 On October 2 the US Embassy announces that it will provide a grant to the Ukrainska Pravda website.[4]

November 2000 On November 2, Gongadze's headless body is found on a rural forest road 70 kilometers from Kiev near the village of Tarashchareast-font-family: [5]. He was the 13th reporter to be murdered in the Ukraine in 10 years. [6] The body temporarily disappears and the coroners who investigate the body are harassed.[7] * In May 2001 the body was positively identified by the US Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. [8]

On 28 November, the Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz announces tapes secretly recorded for the past year by a former presidential bodyguard, Mykola Melnychenko, in the presidential office. The tapes record Ukrainian President Kuchma saying: "Drive him [Gongadze] out! Throw him out! Give him to the Chechens!" Kuchma says the tapes have been doctored. The tape are later authenticated by several foreign experts.[9]

December 2000 - February 2001 Demonstrations in Kyiv. Police later break up the demonstrations.[10]

*February 2001 US Embassy accepts petitions from students and journalist about the Gongadze case and press freedom.[11]

*April 2001: April 19 US State Department announced that the US had granted Melnychenko and Gongadze's family political asylum.[12]

*April 2002 Ukraine officials refuse to share evidence about the Gongadze case with invited FBI agents.[13]

*September 2002 Newly released portions of the Melnychenko recordings show a transfer of a radar system to Iraq despite sanctions. The U.S. Government responds by suspending $50 million in aid to Ukraine. [14]

August 2003 A prime suspect, Igor Honcharov, dies in police custody. [15] His body was cremated soon after.[16]

June 2004 </nowiki>A special parliamentary committee dominated by the opposition which was investigating the killing states that the president should be impeached and that the prosecutor general should bring criminal proceedings against the Ukrainian leader.[17]

*August 2004 Director of the closed Kyiv radio station Kontinent gains refugee status in America.[18]

March 2005 Newly elected President Yushchenko announces on 1 March that the suspected killers have been detained.[19] Prosecutor-General Svyatoslav Piskun announced the next day that two Interior Ministry policemen strangled Gongadze.[20]

On March 4, Former Interior Minister Kravchenko is found dead the same day he was to testify about the Gongadze death. Authorities state that he committed suicide. He had two gunshot wounds to the chin and temple. A suicide note blames Kuchma for Gongadze's death.[21]]

* July 2005 Journalist Olena Prytula of the “Ukrayinska Pravda” co-wins the National Press Club 2005 Journalism Award.

November 2005 The European Court of Human Rights awards Gongadze's wife 100,000 euros, ruling that Ukrainian authorities had not done enough to protect Gongadze or to investigate his death. To date, Ukraine has not paid these awarded damages. [22]

January 2006 The trial of three former policemen charged with killing Gongadze begins.[23] The court ruled on January 24, 2006 to hold the trial without the public or press allowed in the court. [24]

---

n1.. Ukraine, Five Years And One Revolution Later: Heorhiy Gongadze Case Goes To Court, Radio Free Europe/Radio </nowiki>Liberty, 9 January 2006.

n2.. Outspoken Ukraine journalist missing, BBC News, Tuesday, 19 September 2000.

n3.. Press Coverage of the Investigation of the Ukrainian Parliament into the Murder of Journalist Georgy Gongadze, Myroslava Gongadze, 10^th International Anti-corruption conference. 9 October 2001.

n4.. U.S. provides grant to Gongadze's Internet newspaper, The Ukrainian Weekly, October 15, 2000

n5.. Investigating Corruption in Ukraine A Case Study of Internet Journalist Georgy Gongadze, World Bank Institute, p 10.

n6.. Killing the story: a Tom Mangold investigation, Correspondent (BBC program), 18 April 2002.

n7.. World Bank Institute, p 10.

n8.. Ibid, p 13.

n9.. “Flaws in Ukrainian Laws Dog Due Process in Gongadze Case,” Peter Byrne, Kyiv Post, 25 January 2001.

n10.. Thousands March in Kiev Over Political Crisis, Patrick E. Tyler New York Times, 7 February 2001; Kuchma protesters in Kiev battle, CNN, 9 March 2001. Riot police break up Kiev protest, CNN, 17 September 2002.

n11.. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, February, 2001.

n12.. East European Constitutional Review Constitutional Watch, NYU School of Law, Spring/Summer 2001

n13.. FBI Probe Blocked in Ukraine Murder, Natalia A. Fedushchak, The Washington Times, April 22, 2002

n14.. What Ukraine's Kolchuga radar does, BBC News, 14 October 2002.

n15.. 'Killer admits' Gongadze murder, BBC News, Monday, 21 June 2004.

n16.. News Analysis: The Gongadze Cover-Up, Ukraine Weekly, 25 July 2004.

n17.. 'Killer admits' Gongadze murder.

n18.. Threatened radio director gets refugee status in the U.S., Committee to Protect Journalists, 12 August 2004

n19.. 'Gongadze killers' held by police, BBC News, 1 March 2005.

n20.. Police Officers Arrested In Gongadze Case, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 4 March 2005.

n21.. Ukraine minister 'killed himself', BBC News, 31 March 2005.

n22.. Myroslava Gongadze wins case at the European Court of Human Rights, Vitaliy Voznyak Ukrayinska Pravda, 11 September 2005.

n23.. Key Ukraine murder trial begins, BBC News, 9 January 2006.

n24.. Call for public trial of journalist’s accused killers, Reporters without Borders, 25 January, 2006.

Signed:Travb (talk) 06:54, 6 July 2006 (UTC)