Never-Ending Story

Myroslava Gongadze, wife of murdered journalist Georgy Gongadze, has sent a telegram to the Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka,  She calls on him to enforce the ruling of the Pechersky District Court in Kyiv and provide the court with the material of the case over the charges against former police general, Oleksy Pukach in order to examine the complaint lodged over allegedly unlawful exclusion from the charges of “commissioned killing”.  According to Myroslava Gongadze’s lawyer, Valentina Telychenko, the telegram stresses that the staff of the Prosecutor’s Office have for a month flagrantly ignored the Pechersky District Court’s demands, with the court having asked five days for a time to be set for providing the material.

Valentina Telychenko explained that Ms Gongadze and O. Podolsky, who have victim status in the case, appealed back in December 2010 against the exclusion from the charge of commissioned murder against Pukach. The Prosecutor General’s Office [PGO] was ordered to provide the material by 28 December. This was then extended to 31 December, then 10 January, 17 January and finally 22 January yet the PGO is continuing to ignore the calls, in Ms Telychenko’s words, “demonstrating disregard for the law and contempt of court.”  She says that they may be forced to lodge a complaint with the court against the Prosecutor General’s inaction.

Georgy Gongadze disappeared on 16 September 2000. In November that year a headless body was found in a Kyiv region forest and tests showed that it was likely to be that of the journalist.  On 15 March 2008 the Court of Appeal in Kyiv found three former police officers guilty of the killing and sentenced them to 12 and 13 years imprisonment.  One of the accused, O. Pukach had been on the wanted list since 2005. He was arrested in Ukraine on 21 July 2009.

On 6 December 2010 the PGO Press Service reported that the Central Investigation Department into Particularly Serious Cases had concluded its investigation into the charges against Oleksy Pukach.  They had established that during the night into 17 September 2000, acting on the instructions of former Minister of Internal Affairs, Yury Kravchenko and other public officials, Oleksy Pukach had murdered Georgy Gongadze. This was with the prior conspiracy of a group of people in connection with the journalist’s carrying out of his civic and journalist duties.

At the same time the Prosecutor General refused to allow Myroslava Gongadze’s lawyer, Valentina Telychenko and journalist Oleksy Podolsky who is also a victim in the case, to read the material of the criminal file on Oleksy Pukach.

Valentina Telychenko and Oleksy Podolsky have lodged an appeal against the actions of the Prosecutor General’s Office with the Pechersky District Court, but the court cannot begin to examine the appeal on its merits since the PGO has not provided it with the material of the case.

From a report by Oksana Marynenko at #article