(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 25 September 2000 letter to President Leonid Kuchma, CPJ expressed its deep concern about the recent disappearance of Georgy Gongadze, the 31-year-old editor of the news Web site Ukrainska Pravda (www.pravda.com.ua). CPJ noted that this event has alarmed the journalistic community in Ukraine and further eroded President Kuchma’s government’s already limited […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 25 September 2000 letter to President Leonid Kuchma, CPJ expressed its deep concern about the recent disappearance of Georgy Gongadze, the 31-year-old editor of the news Web site Ukrainska Pravda (www.pravda.com.ua). CPJ noted that this event has alarmed the journalistic community in Ukraine and further eroded President Kuchma’s government’s already limited credibility on press-freedom issues.
Gongadze, whose site has often featured critical articles about Ukraine government officials, disappeared in Kiev on the evening of Saturday 16 September. Gongadze had left the home of a colleague at 10:20 p.m. (local time) to meet his wife and two young children at home. He never arrived.
The police launched an investigation, but so far have turned up no leads. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Parliament has established a special commission to investigate Gongadze’s disappearance. According to local sources, there are grounds to suspect that the abduction was related to the editor’s professional work.
Shortly after Gongadze disappeared, the deputy director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Nikolay Dzhyga, announced that authorities were looking into three possible scenarios: that Gongadze planned his own abduction, that he was involved in an accident, or that the abduction was related to Gongadze’s journalism.
On 19 September, however, Deputy Interior Minister Mykola Dzhyha announced that the police have ruled out any political motive. Police officials are now suggesting that the disappearance was related to Gongadze’s personal life. According to CPJ, this conclusion is premature, to say the least.
Gongadze’s disappearance follows several suspect or inconclusive investigations into the deaths of local journalists. Sixty local journalists expressed their concern about this trend in a letter sent to President Kuchma and the Ukrainian Parliament on 19 September. The letter cited the cases of “Kievskiye Vedomosti” correspondent Petro Shevchenko (found dead hanging from a rope in an abandoned building in Luhansk on 13 March 1997) (see IFEX alert of 14 March 1997), and murdered “Vechernyaya Odessa” editor Boris Derevyanko (shot in the heart and stomach on 11 August 1997) (see IFEX alerts of 23 March 1999 and 11 August 1997).
This year alone, two journalists have been beaten after publishing articles about official corruption, according to CPJ research. These cases demonstrate that Ukrainian journalists put their lives at risk when they dare to criticize government officials and other powerful figures. CPJ protested all these attacks in letters to President Kuchma, but has received no reply.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– calling on the police to investigate Gongadze’s disappearance thoroughly, and to release information about the case in a timely manner
– urging His Excellency to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of reporters in Ukraine
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:
His Excellency Leonid Kuchma
President of Ukraine
vul. Bankivska 11
Kiev, Ukraine
Fax: +380 44 293 7364 / 291 6161 / 293 1001
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
