[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 98 (Monday, June 18, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1324]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF MYROSLAVA GONGADZE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 18, 2007

  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 
accomplishment of Myroslava Gongadze of Arlington, Virginia and a proud 
member of our civil service. Ms. Gongadze serves as the leading 
spokesperson for American values in Ukraine, helping to move the nation 
in a more pro-western direction.
  A native Ukrainian who was granted political asylum in the United 
States in 2001 and began working for Voice of America in 2004, 
Myroslava Gongadze is one of the most recognized journalists and human 
rights advocates in Europe. This episode during the 2004 elections is 
just one chapter in her long-running fight for justice in her homeland 
and across the globe.
  For 17 days in November 2004, with temperatures below freezing in the 
central square in Kiev, Ukraine, a million people stood in a sea of 
orange color, protesting fraudulent presidential elections. Two huge 
screens flanked the makeshift stage hooked into Ukraine's only 
independent source of information, Channel5 TV. The broadcast they 
received was from the Voice of America's Washington studio, and the 
face they saw was Myroslava Gongadze. When Ms. Gongadze reported U.S. 
Secretary of State Colin Powell's statement that the United States 
refused to recognize the falsified election results, it was one of the 
watershed moments of Ukraine's ``Orange Revolution,'' which resulted in 
the election and peaceful installation of Viktor Yuschenko as Ukraine's 
new President.
  While her story is inspirational, the circumstances that drove Ms. 
Gongadze to become a political activist are tragic. Her husband Georgy 
Gongadze was a renowned investigative journalist who exposed corruption 
and cronyism in the administration of the former Ukrainian President. 
In 2000, he was murdered by government police. Since his death, she has 
made it her mission to promote freedom of speech, the rights of 
journalists and the need to bring corrupt officials to justice.
  She has pursued her agenda by working with many different 
organizations, including the European Court for Human Rights, the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Committee 
to Protect Journalists. She even created the Gongadze Foundation, a 
nongovernmental organization working to protect journalists' rights and 
political freedom. However, the organization that has given her the 
platform to make her biggest impact has been the Voice of America.
  Madam Speaker, I commend Ms. Gongadze for her leadership, and I am 
proud to have her live in Virginia's 8th Congressional District as she 
contributes to the greatest civil service in the world. I wish her all 
the best in her future endeavors.

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