Kiev .- The Ukrainian Prosecutor General today filed formal charges against the country's president Leonid Kuchma for his alleged involvement in the murder in 2000 of journalist Georgy Gongadze. "I have brought charges. Since the read. On Monday, I again referred to the investigating judge, told reporters the accused himself after being questioned at the Department of Education of the Attorney General, informed the local agency.
A question from a reporter about the essence of the charges they face, Kuchma said: "Although I have not read from beginning to end." However, immediately afterwards he added that "nothing new" and explained that it is "he announced at a press conference the deputy attorney general," Renat Kuzmin.
On Tuesday, the number two of the Attorney General stated that the president, who ruled the country between 1994 and 2005, has been indicted on suspicion "of abuse of power and give illegal orders of the Ministry of Interior officials that led to murder the journalist. " Assistant Attorney General added that Kuchma, 72, has been barred from leaving the country.
Gongadze, 35, editor of the journal "Ukrainskaya Pravda, disappeared on September 16, 2000, and nearly two months later his decapitated body was found in a forest outside Kiev. Shortly after the discovery of the corpse of the journalist, one of Kuchma's bodyguard, Mykola Melnichenko, released some recordings made at the office of then head of state in which he asked his interior minister, Yuri Kravchenko, take action against journalist opponent.
Although U.S. experts confirmed the authenticity of the tapes, Kuchma has always denied. Kravchenko, ousted in 2001, committed suicide in March 2005, shortly after being called to testify in the prosecution, in rare circumstances they did suspect it was a murder. The perpetrator of the murder of Gongadze, the confessed Alexei Pukach, a retired police general, is on remand awaiting trial.
In March 2007, three policemen were sentenced to between 12 and 13 years for illegal detention and premeditated murder of the journalist. Some Ukrainian media today recalled that the period of limitation for crimes that are punishable by more than five years of imprisonment, as is the case against him to Kuchma, is ten years.
In view of this, the opposition has complained that the proceedings against Kuchma seeks only to shelve the case. "It's a bluff, a show," he wrote in Twitter's former prime minister and opposition leader, Yulia Timoshenko. According to the political opposition, the actions of the Attorney General is a "montage" of the current Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, who "will end in nothing." 
A question from a reporter about the essence of the charges they face, Kuchma said: "Although I have not read from beginning to end." However, immediately afterwards he added that "nothing new" and explained that it is "he announced at a press conference the deputy attorney general," Renat Kuzmin.
On Tuesday, the number two of the Attorney General stated that the president, who ruled the country between 1994 and 2005, has been indicted on suspicion "of abuse of power and give illegal orders of the Ministry of Interior officials that led to murder the journalist. " Assistant Attorney General added that Kuchma, 72, has been barred from leaving the country.
Gongadze, 35, editor of the journal "Ukrainskaya Pravda, disappeared on September 16, 2000, and nearly two months later his decapitated body was found in a forest outside Kiev. Shortly after the discovery of the corpse of the journalist, one of Kuchma's bodyguard, Mykola Melnichenko, released some recordings made at the office of then head of state in which he asked his interior minister, Yuri Kravchenko, take action against journalist opponent.
Although U.S. experts confirmed the authenticity of the tapes, Kuchma has always denied. Kravchenko, ousted in 2001, committed suicide in March 2005, shortly after being called to testify in the prosecution, in rare circumstances they did suspect it was a murder. The perpetrator of the murder of Gongadze, the confessed Alexei Pukach, a retired police general, is on remand awaiting trial.
In March 2007, three policemen were sentenced to between 12 and 13 years for illegal detention and premeditated murder of the journalist. Some Ukrainian media today recalled that the period of limitation for crimes that are punishable by more than five years of imprisonment, as is the case against him to Kuchma, is ten years.
In view of this, the opposition has complained that the proceedings against Kuchma seeks only to shelve the case. "It's a bluff, a show," he wrote in Twitter's former prime minister and opposition leader, Yulia Timoshenko. According to the political opposition, the actions of the Attorney General is a "montage" of the current Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, who "will end in nothing."
- Leonid Kuchma, Former Ukraine President, Charged In Journalist's Murder (24/03/2011)
- Ex Ukraine president charged in reporter's death (24/03/2011)
- Ex-president charged in Ukraine (24/03/2011)
- Ukraine's former president defiant as he is questioned over reporter's murder (24/03/2011)
- Ukraine's Kuchma in murder denial (23/03/2011)
No comments:
Post a Comment