[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 89 (Thursday, June 24, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S7419]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        UNSOLVED MURDER OF UKRAINIAN JOURNALIST HEORHIY GONGADZE

  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, for nearly 4 years the case of murdered 
Ukrainian investigative journalist Heorhiy Gongadze has gone unsolved, 
despite repeated calls by the Helsinki Commission, the State 
Department, and the international community for a fair and impartial 
investigation into this case. As cochairman of the Helsinki Commission, 
I have met with Gongadze's widow and their young twin daughters. 
Besides the human tragedy of the case, the Gongadze murder is a case 
study of the Ukrainian authority's utter contempt for the rule of law.
  Gongadze, who was editor of the Ukrainian Internet news publication 
Ukrainska Pravda, which was critical of high-level corruption in 
Ukraine, disappeared in September 2000. His headless body was found in 
November of that year. That same month, audio recordings by a former 
member of the presidential security services surfaced that included 
excerpts of earlier conversations between Ukrainian President Kuchma 
and other senior officials discussing the desirability of Gongadze's 
elimination.
  Earlier this week, Ukraine's Prosecutor General's office announced 
that Ihor Honcharov, a high-ranking police officer who claimed to have 
information on how Ministry of Internal Affairs officials carried out 
orders to abduct Gongadze, died of ``spinal trauma'' while in police 
custody last year. This came on the heels of an article in the British 
newspaper, The Independent, which obtained leaked confidential 
documents from Ukraine indicating repeated obstruction into the 
Gongadze case at the highest levels. Furthermore, just yesterday, 
Ukraine's Prosecutor General announced that investigators are 
questioning a suspect who has allegedly admitted to killing Gongadze.
  Many close observers of the Ukrainian authorities' mishandling, 
obfuscation and evasiveness surrounding this case from the outset are 
suspicious with respect to this announcement. Just one of numerous 
examples of the Ukrainian authorities' obstruction of the case was the 
blocking of FBI experts from examining evidence gathered during the 
initial investigation in April 2002, after the Bureau had been invited 
by these authorities to advise and assist in the case and earlier had 
helped in identifying Gongadze's remains.
  The Ukrainian parliament's committee investigating the murder has 
recommended criminal proceedings against President Kuchma. This 
committee's work has been thwarted at every turn over the course of the 
last several years by the top-ranking Ukrainian authorities.
  A serious and credible investigation of this case is long overdue--
one which brings to justice not only the perpetrators of this crime, 
but all those complicit in Gongadze's disappearance and murder, 
including President Kuchma.
  Ukraine faces critically important presidential elections this 
October. Last month, I introduced a bipartisan resolution urging the 
Ukrainian Government to ensure a democratic, transparent and fair 
election process. Unfortunately, there have been serious problems in 
Ukraine's pre-election environment.
  Ukraine can do much to demonstrate its commitment to democracy and 
the rule of law by conducting free and fair elections and fully and 
honestly investigating those who were behind the murder of Heorhiy 
Gongadze. The Ukrainian people deserve no less.

                          ____________________