Last person to have been with Vasyl Klymentyev declared wanted for questioning

The police have placed on the wanted list a person believed to hold important information about the disappearance of the Chief Editor of the Kharkiv newspaper Novy Styl [New Style] Vasyl Klymentyev.  This was stated by a Deputy Minister of the Interior Vasyl Farynnyk on Thursday during a press conference in Kyiv. The report does not mention the man’s name, but says that he was with Mr Klymentyev the day that he disappeared.

As reported here, Vasyl Klimentyev, Chief Editor of the newspaper “New Style”, disappeared on 11 August. His colleagues are convinced that this was linked with his professional activities. 

The police almost immediately began a murder investigation despite the journalist having disappeared without trace.  The source here says that Mr Klymentyev was last seen getting into a BMW near a metro station, however investigators earlier said that this sighting had not been confirmed.

After considerable media attention, the authorities began reacting, and the Minister of Internal Affairs, Vasyl Mohylyov stated that the journalist’s disappearance was to be investigated by the MIA Central Investigation Department because they suspected that police officers could be implicated.

On 11 September the MIA informed that around 10 versions for the journalist’s disappearance were being worked on, and the media reported that there were already 13 volumes of material, with 500 people having been questioned. However on 14 September the same MIA acknowledged that nobody has been charged or is even a suspect in the case.

Concern over Klymentyev’s disappearance has been expressed by a number of international organizations, including Reporters without Borders, as well as the OSCE.

New information from a report on 20 January 2011 at Interfax - Ukraine