The Independent: Crowds Demand Resignation of 'Killer' Kuchma
02/12/2001 | Broker
Crowds demand resignation of `killer' Kuchma
The Independent - United Kingdom
Feb 12, 2001
BY PATRICK COCKBURN IN MOSCOW
THOUSANDS OF Ukrainians marched through Kiev yesterday, waving banners which accused President Leonid Kuchma of the murder of a journalist and demanding his resignation.
Earlier, Mr Kuchma suddenly sacked Leonid Derkach, the powerful head of the Ukrainian secret police, in an apparent bid to defuse the escalating political crisis.
"The firing of Derkach is our first success, but Kuchma must and will go," said Alexei Malinovsky, the deputy head of the Ukrainian Socialist Party, as he marshalled demonstrators in a square near the centre of Kiev. "The president is isolated at home and isolated abroad. He can't repress us now because nobody supports him anymore."
Police stayed in the background as some 5,000 protesters chanting "Ukraine without Kuchma" converged on Khreshchatyk street, a wide pedestrian-only boulevard, in the heart of the capital. Other demonstrators, from a multitude of left- and right-wing parties normally at odds, have established a permanent tent village on the side of the street.
Mr Kuchma has been fighting for his political life ever since an officer in his bodyguard, who had bugged his office, started to release tape recordings of his conversations. In these, the Ukrainian president is heard repeatedly discussing with senior officials ways of getting rid of Georgy Gongadze, a local journalist. Mr Gongadze's decapitated body, bearing marks of torture, was later discovered buried in a wood outside Kiev.
Mr Kuchma surprised Ukrainians on Saturday by announcing at a meeting of the National Security and Defence Council that he was getting rid of Mr Derkach as well as Volodomyr Shepel, the head of his own presidential bodyguard. But the sackings are unlikely to satisfy the president's opponents who scent that his position is weakening and they may be able to force him out of office.
Alyona Prytula, a close friend of Mr Gongadze, who succeeded him as editor of his investigative internet newspaper, Ukrainskaya Pravda, does not believe Mr Kuchma will be able to survive. "Nobody trusts him anymore," she said in an interview. "His grip on state power is shaken. The opposition is uniting. The mass media feels more free to report what is happening."
Nevertheless, many Ukrainians are still fearful of protesting. Mikhail Yavorsky, from Poltava in eastern Ukraine, who had come to yesterday's demonstration clutching a blue banner demanding that Mr Kuchma go, said: "Many people who have good jobs are frightened they will lose them if they say they are against the government."
Mr Kuchma's previous claim that there was no proof that Mr Gongadze was dead has looked ever more absurd in the past month. Mykhailo Potebenko, the prosecutor general, told parliament last month that DNA tests showed a 99.6 per cent chance that the headless corpse was Mr Gongadze. Even so, he said, Mr Gongadze might be alive.
The government's purpose in claiming, in the face of its own forensic evidence, that Mr Gongadze is not dead, is probably to avoid investigating his murder. Mr Potebenko has now been sent on a 45-day leave leading to speculation that he will soon be fired.
Mr Potebenko's office had long maintained that the tape recordings made over a year-long period in the presidential office were fake. But this defence has also crumbled in the face of evidence from two separate politicians who confirmed that they had indeed had the conversations with Mr Kuchma which are on the tapes.
Mr Kuchma met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Dnepropetrovsk yesterday and today they will tour the rocket booster factory which the Ukrainian leader ran from 1986 to 1992. Ukraine's relations with Russia are continually being strained by Ukraine - which owes Russia up to $2bn (pounds 1.4bn) for gas purchases - stealing Russian gas exported by pipeline across Ukraine.
If Mr Kuchma goes, his most likely replacement is Viktor Yushchenko, the prime minister, who is popular though he has no strong political base. But it is not clear what mechanism can force Mr Kuchma to resign if he does not want to. The president underlined the strength of his constitutional position last month by sacking Yuliya Tymoshenko, the deputy prime minister in charge of energy.
The Independent - United Kingdom
Feb 12, 2001
BY PATRICK COCKBURN IN MOSCOW
THOUSANDS OF Ukrainians marched through Kiev yesterday, waving banners which accused President Leonid Kuchma of the murder of a journalist and demanding his resignation.
Earlier, Mr Kuchma suddenly sacked Leonid Derkach, the powerful head of the Ukrainian secret police, in an apparent bid to defuse the escalating political crisis.
"The firing of Derkach is our first success, but Kuchma must and will go," said Alexei Malinovsky, the deputy head of the Ukrainian Socialist Party, as he marshalled demonstrators in a square near the centre of Kiev. "The president is isolated at home and isolated abroad. He can't repress us now because nobody supports him anymore."
Police stayed in the background as some 5,000 protesters chanting "Ukraine without Kuchma" converged on Khreshchatyk street, a wide pedestrian-only boulevard, in the heart of the capital. Other demonstrators, from a multitude of left- and right-wing parties normally at odds, have established a permanent tent village on the side of the street.
Mr Kuchma has been fighting for his political life ever since an officer in his bodyguard, who had bugged his office, started to release tape recordings of his conversations. In these, the Ukrainian president is heard repeatedly discussing with senior officials ways of getting rid of Georgy Gongadze, a local journalist. Mr Gongadze's decapitated body, bearing marks of torture, was later discovered buried in a wood outside Kiev.
Mr Kuchma surprised Ukrainians on Saturday by announcing at a meeting of the National Security and Defence Council that he was getting rid of Mr Derkach as well as Volodomyr Shepel, the head of his own presidential bodyguard. But the sackings are unlikely to satisfy the president's opponents who scent that his position is weakening and they may be able to force him out of office.
Alyona Prytula, a close friend of Mr Gongadze, who succeeded him as editor of his investigative internet newspaper, Ukrainskaya Pravda, does not believe Mr Kuchma will be able to survive. "Nobody trusts him anymore," she said in an interview. "His grip on state power is shaken. The opposition is uniting. The mass media feels more free to report what is happening."
Nevertheless, many Ukrainians are still fearful of protesting. Mikhail Yavorsky, from Poltava in eastern Ukraine, who had come to yesterday's demonstration clutching a blue banner demanding that Mr Kuchma go, said: "Many people who have good jobs are frightened they will lose them if they say they are against the government."
Mr Kuchma's previous claim that there was no proof that Mr Gongadze was dead has looked ever more absurd in the past month. Mykhailo Potebenko, the prosecutor general, told parliament last month that DNA tests showed a 99.6 per cent chance that the headless corpse was Mr Gongadze. Even so, he said, Mr Gongadze might be alive.
The government's purpose in claiming, in the face of its own forensic evidence, that Mr Gongadze is not dead, is probably to avoid investigating his murder. Mr Potebenko has now been sent on a 45-day leave leading to speculation that he will soon be fired.
Mr Potebenko's office had long maintained that the tape recordings made over a year-long period in the presidential office were fake. But this defence has also crumbled in the face of evidence from two separate politicians who confirmed that they had indeed had the conversations with Mr Kuchma which are on the tapes.
Mr Kuchma met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Dnepropetrovsk yesterday and today they will tour the rocket booster factory which the Ukrainian leader ran from 1986 to 1992. Ukraine's relations with Russia are continually being strained by Ukraine - which owes Russia up to $2bn (pounds 1.4bn) for gas purchases - stealing Russian gas exported by pipeline across Ukraine.
If Mr Kuchma goes, his most likely replacement is Viktor Yushchenko, the prime minister, who is popular though he has no strong political base. But it is not clear what mechanism can force Mr Kuchma to resign if he does not want to. The president underlined the strength of his constitutional position last month by sacking Yuliya Tymoshenko, the deputy prime minister in charge of energy.