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Colleague of Missing Ukrainian Journalist slams Investigation

31.08.2010    source: www.rferl.org
Petro Matvienko, Deputy Chief Editor of the weekly "Novy Styl" has described the investigation into Vasyl Klymentyev’s disappearance a farce and believes investigators are not interested in finding him

A colleague of missing Ukrainian journalist Vasyl Klymentyev has described the investigation into his disappearance as "a farce,"
Petro Matvienko, deputy chief editor of the weekly "Novy Styl" (New Style) in Kharkiv, told RFE/RL that investigators are not interested in finding Klymentyev.
Klymentyev, 66, has been missing since August 11.
Interior Minister Anatoliy Mohylyov said last week that Klymentyev was likely dead and that security forces are suspected of involvement in the disappearance.
Matvienko said that the investigations cannot be unbiased, as he and Klymentyev were preparing articles about "the illegal activities of Kharkiv Oblast Deputy Prosecutor Serhiy Khachatrian."
According to Matvienko, the police and prosecutor’s office are connected, and therefore it is hard to believe that the investigation will shed any light on the case.
"The statements made by President [Viktor] Yanukovych and Interior Affairs Minister Mohylyov, saying that they have the investigations of Klymentyev’s case under their personal control, are nothing but a PR action," said Matvienko.
He called Klymentyev’s case "Gongadzegate," an allusion to independent journalist Georgy Gongadze, who was abducted and beheaded by unknown assailants in 2000. Three former police officers were jailed for killing Gongadze, but it has not been established who ordered the killing.
Klymentyev’s relatives reported him missing on August 12. Police said preliminary investigations revealed that Klymentyev was last seen on August 11 near Kharkiv’s Sportivna metro station, together with an unknown man, and that both of them got into a BMW automobile.  (The police have since said that this was not the case – PL)
Matvienko said that on August 9, he and Klymentyev took photographs of mansions belonging to regional tax chief Stanislav Denisyuk and three other local officials, including a former Ukrainian State Security Service officer. They intended to use the pictures in an article to be published in the next issue of the paper.
Matvienko said he and Klymentyev met on the morning of August 11 to discuss the article and the photos. Later the same day, Matvienko said, he was not able to reach Klymentyev by phone.
30 August was the International Day of the Disappeared.

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