The Independent: 'Murder tape' threatens to topple Ukraine leader
02/07/2001 | Broker
The Independent (London)
'Murder tape' threatens to topple Ukraine leader
By Patrick Cockburn in Moscow
7 February 2001
Thousands of demonstrators marched through the snow-piled streets of Kiev,
the Ukrainian capital, yesterday demanding the resignation of President
Leonid Kuchma, who is suspected of organising the murder of an opposition
journalist. Protesters tried to break into the building housing the
presidential administration.
Mr Kuchma has been under growing pressure to go since secret tape recordings
of his conversations, made by one of his security officers, revealed that he
had discussed ways of silencing Georgy Gongadze, a journalist whose headless
body was discovered in a shallow grave in a wood outside Kiev three months
ago.
The demonstrators carried giant portraits of Mr Kuchma with his face crossed
out. A permanent tent camp set up in the city as a centre for protest by
opponents of the president was attacked by unidentified men.
The political fortunes of Mr Kuchma, who was re-elected last year, have
declined rapidly since Mikola Melnychenko, a former officer in the Ukrainian
security service (SBU) bugged the presidential office, placing a tape
recorder under a sofa. Mr Kuchma is heard suggesting to a senior lieutenant
that Mr Gongadze, who ran an internet newspaper, should be kidnapped by
Chechen bandits. The journalist vanished last September. On tape, Mr Kuchma
giggles about the disappearance.
The Ukrainian government denied he was dead, and delayed doing scientific
tests on the victim, identified by a local coroner as Mr Gongadze. The
coroner's superiors were said to have told him to check into a hospital for
stress disorder.
Last month, Mikhailo Pote-benko, the prosecutor general, finally revealed to
a packed parliament that DNA tests showed a 99.6 per cent likelihood that
the corpse was Mr Gongadze. There was also a shrapnel mark on a wrist bone
similar to a mortar wound suffered by Mr Gongadze while reporting the civil
war in Georgia in the early Nineties. Mr Potebenko claimed he still doubted
Mr Gongadze was dead.
The 300 hours of taped conversation show the 61-year-old President to be
obsessed with eliminating opponents. He often uses obscene language with
other Ukrainian leaders. Telling one how to deal with a judge who failed to
act firmly enough against a lawyer accused of spreading false information
about the President, Mr Kuchma says: "You take this judge and hang him by
the balls. Let him hang for one night."
Mr Kuchma and Mr Pote-benko tried to discredit the tapes, but some people
recorded with the President vouched for their accuracy. Mr Potebenko said
technical experts did not believe the recording could have been made by a
machine under a sofa, because sounds would have been distorted by such an
obstacle. He also filed criminal charges against Mr Melnychenko, who is in
hiding abroad, accusing him of slander and falsification of a passport
application.
Mr Potebenko now admits the tapes may be real, but claims incriminating
passages have been doctored. This is denied by foreign specialists, though
they cannot identify some voices with certainty.
Ukrainian politics is violent, and other journalists as well as opposition
leaders have been killed or died in "accidents". One politician who
authenticated the tapes stated publicly that he had no debts, was in good
health and did not plan to kill himself.
Western leaders have been indulgent with Mr Kuchma because he was
anti-Communist. But, as the pressure mounts for him to go, they may conclude
he has become a liability.
'Murder tape' threatens to topple Ukraine leader
By Patrick Cockburn in Moscow
7 February 2001
Thousands of demonstrators marched through the snow-piled streets of Kiev,
the Ukrainian capital, yesterday demanding the resignation of President
Leonid Kuchma, who is suspected of organising the murder of an opposition
journalist. Protesters tried to break into the building housing the
presidential administration.
Mr Kuchma has been under growing pressure to go since secret tape recordings
of his conversations, made by one of his security officers, revealed that he
had discussed ways of silencing Georgy Gongadze, a journalist whose headless
body was discovered in a shallow grave in a wood outside Kiev three months
ago.
The demonstrators carried giant portraits of Mr Kuchma with his face crossed
out. A permanent tent camp set up in the city as a centre for protest by
opponents of the president was attacked by unidentified men.
The political fortunes of Mr Kuchma, who was re-elected last year, have
declined rapidly since Mikola Melnychenko, a former officer in the Ukrainian
security service (SBU) bugged the presidential office, placing a tape
recorder under a sofa. Mr Kuchma is heard suggesting to a senior lieutenant
that Mr Gongadze, who ran an internet newspaper, should be kidnapped by
Chechen bandits. The journalist vanished last September. On tape, Mr Kuchma
giggles about the disappearance.
The Ukrainian government denied he was dead, and delayed doing scientific
tests on the victim, identified by a local coroner as Mr Gongadze. The
coroner's superiors were said to have told him to check into a hospital for
stress disorder.
Last month, Mikhailo Pote-benko, the prosecutor general, finally revealed to
a packed parliament that DNA tests showed a 99.6 per cent likelihood that
the corpse was Mr Gongadze. There was also a shrapnel mark on a wrist bone
similar to a mortar wound suffered by Mr Gongadze while reporting the civil
war in Georgia in the early Nineties. Mr Potebenko claimed he still doubted
Mr Gongadze was dead.
The 300 hours of taped conversation show the 61-year-old President to be
obsessed with eliminating opponents. He often uses obscene language with
other Ukrainian leaders. Telling one how to deal with a judge who failed to
act firmly enough against a lawyer accused of spreading false information
about the President, Mr Kuchma says: "You take this judge and hang him by
the balls. Let him hang for one night."
Mr Kuchma and Mr Pote-benko tried to discredit the tapes, but some people
recorded with the President vouched for their accuracy. Mr Potebenko said
technical experts did not believe the recording could have been made by a
machine under a sofa, because sounds would have been distorted by such an
obstacle. He also filed criminal charges against Mr Melnychenko, who is in
hiding abroad, accusing him of slander and falsification of a passport
application.
Mr Potebenko now admits the tapes may be real, but claims incriminating
passages have been doctored. This is denied by foreign specialists, though
they cannot identify some voices with certainty.
Ukrainian politics is violent, and other journalists as well as opposition
leaders have been killed or died in "accidents". One politician who
authenticated the tapes stated publicly that he had no debts, was in good
health and did not plan to kill himself.
Western leaders have been indulgent with Mr Kuchma because he was
anti-Communist. But, as the pressure mounts for him to go, they may conclude
he has become a liability.