Looks Like Putin/KGB Still At It

[Annie]

http://www.slowplay.com/archives/2005/03/04/suicided-ukraine.php

Suicide or ’suicided’? Intrigue in the Ukraine

Yuri F. Kravchenko was found dead today in a cottage near the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. Officials ruled it a suicide. Kravchenko supposedly had information regarding the 2000 death of a prominent journalist that could have been potentially devastating to former Ukraine president Leonid Kuchma. Kravchenko served as the Ukraine’s “interior minister", and ordered his agents to trail journalist Georgy Gongadze. Kravchenko was set to talk to prosecutors today about his involvement with Gongadze’s death.

Kravchenko reportedly shot himself in the head. Twice. That’s a strange fact – though technically the reports released so far only say he suffered two gunshot wounds, not necessarily both of them to the head, though I can’t imagine why someone would shoot himself elsewhere on the body before shooting himself in the head – to reconcile with a suicide. Many people in the Ukraine don’t buy the story. The New York Times reports:

As news of his death spread, some members of Parliament called for Mr. Kuchma’s immediate arrest, suggesting that Mr. Kravchenko might have been killed to prevent him from revealing high-level complicity in Mr. Gongadze’s death.

Mr. Kravchenko’s death is not the first among ministers who served in Mr. Kuchma’s government. On Dec. 27, the day after Mr. Yushchenko’s victory in a third round of voting, the transportation minister, Hryhoriy Kirpa, died in what was also ruled a suicide, though one that spawned dark rumors that perhaps his hand might have been forced.

Andrei Fedur, a lawyer for Mr. Gongadze’s mother, Oleksandra, expressed doubt about the suicide, saying he knew Mr. Kravchenko.

“I shall never believe that this man could commit suicide,” he said.

He added that his death could lead to a premature closing of the case.

“What has happened is very convenient,” he said, “because a dead man cannot defend himself.”

It’s convenient indeed for Mr. Kuchma, who has long been suspected to have been involved with the death of Gongadze. Had Kravchenko become a witness for the prosecution, it could have resulted in criminal charges of the former president. One high ranking Ukrainian official believed that the case against Kuchma and Kravchenko was strong:

Hryhory O. Omelchenko, chairman of a parliamentary committee that investigated the case, said in a telephone interview that Mr. Kravchenko ordered an officer in his ministry, Lt. Gen. Oleksey Pukach, to abduct Mr. Gongadze on Mr. Kuchma’s orders. General Pukach is now wanted. He said Mr. Kravchenko should have been arrested sooner - to save his life.

“I was screaming my head off, begging the prosecutor to arrest Kravchenko,” he said.

Mr. Kuchma, now on vacation in the Czech Republic, has repeatedly denied any involvement in Mr. Gongadze’s death. He plans to return to Ukraine next week, Interfax reported, citing the charity foundation he now heads.

While suspicion is abound, the Times story indicates that recently elected president Viktor Yushchenko – who was, himself, poisoned during his campaign – believes that Kravchenko did, indeed, kill himself.

“Everybody has a choice - either to cooperate with the court and the prosecutor, give evidence, stand public trial, defend one’s rights and honor,” Mr. Yushchenko said in remarks posted on the presidential Web site. “Otherwise one can judge oneself.”

Yushchenko recently won an special election that had to be called after former President Kuchma’s protege won the first vote, which happened to be rigged. Russia was implicated in the improprieties, which only bolstered Yushchenko’s popularity as the opposition leader.