“Come and honor the memory of Georgy Gongadze!” Thus reads the appeal addressed by famous Ukrainian journalists, in particular Gongadze’s widow Myroslava, to his colleagues and general public on the eve of September 16. Journalist Gongadze was abducted and murdered on that day 15 years ago. Most likely, the memorial gathering will be crowded as usual, featuring posters and photos, commemorations of the journalists killed in the line of duty and calls for politicians to investigate crimes against media workers. However, the traditional question still stands: why those same journalists and civic activists do not make every effort to bring the closure to this high-profile case at last?
“THE GONGADZE CASE, AS PERHAPS NO OTHER, REFLECTS IMMATURITY OF OUR POLITICAL CLASS, PUBLIC AND JOURNALIST COMMUNITY”
For example, look at the latest news from Kyiv Court of Appeals, now trying Oleksii Pukach, the main perpetrator of the crimes against journalist Gongadze and civic activist Oleksii Podolsky. “Before September 11, 2015, we never saw an unidentified and unregistered outsider getting even into the court’s building, much less into the courtroom itself where hearings on the Pukach case were held,” victim Podolsky told us. “However, there was not a single officer of the Hryfon special judicial police on the premises of the court and in the courtroom on that day. Only Alfa special force officers, who stayed near the cage holding accused Pukach and provided security and protection for him, were present in the courtroom.”
“Meanwhile, the panel of judges held an illegal ‘conference’ behind metal doors of the retiring room with Stepan Hladii as the chair, even though nobody should have entered the room, for the Pukach case hearing had not started yet. It was from this room, intended to be used for making judgments in the cases and not for any other purpose, that the panel of judges emerged and started the hearing, despite the fact that there was no Hryfon officers present in the room, but there were unknown persons there, neither identified nor checked by anybody, who could have brought who knows what implements or devices for who knows what purpose,” Podolsky continued. “These conscious, deliberate actions of the panel of judges chaired by Judge Hladii on September 11 created favorable conditions for the commission of a terrorist act. Terrible bloody events and possible deaths among those present in the courtroom would have significantly accelerated and immeasurably facilitated passing an obviously illegal decision in the Pukach case and sending this high-profile case to the archives of history, which would allow people behind Gongadze’s contract murder and my brutal kidnapping and torture to evade justice.”
“I consider the events of September 11, 2015 to be unacceptable, because the case file has been declassified, necessitating a public trial in this case,” former head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Valentyn Nalyvaichenko said in his comments for the UNIAN news agency. “As soon as Pukach was arrested, it was immediately decided to provide special protection for him as a key witness and the perpetrator of the crime. Moreover, Pukach started providing extremely important evidence to the SBU officers, who actually arrested him, from the very first moments after his arrest. Later on, we set up extraordinary security measures for every court hearing with his participation, as well as in his cell. We did not trust anyone with it. It was my deputy, General Mykola Herasymenko, who dealt with the protection of the key witness.”
Did many media take an interest in these developments? No, except for scattered messages on the Internet and a story in the TSN news program on the 1+1 TV channel. This situation provided the answer to questions about some journalists’ efforts. This fight must be constant and consistent, rather than episodic and variable in its intensity.
THE YEARS-LONG PROCESS MAY HAVE “BROKEN” MANY BUT NOT HIM. “A LONG, EXHAUSTING, AND DANGEROUS CLASH HAS LASTED FOR 15 YEARS WITH AN EVIL THAT IS SURE OF ITS MIGHTINESS AND IMPUNITY. BUT JUSTICE AND RETRIBUTION ARE BOUND TO PREVAIL,” OLEKSANDR YELIASHKEVYCH TOLD THE DAY AFTER ANOTHER SESSION OF THE TRIAL OF PUKACH / Photo by Ruslan KANIUKA, The Day
“One of the deepest problems of Ukrainian society and journalism is that we have short memories, short-term plans and small-minded thinking,” lawyer and civic activist Hennadii Druzenko told The Day. “Of course, the time is naturally doing its job, and the death of Gongadze, which once shook the whole society, has lost a lot of its urgency by now, because we unfortunately count our fallen by the thousand at the moment. However, until we remove the root cause of popular disturbance, that is, the sense of injustice in the government and distrust for it, we will not be able to build a normal European country here. Our citizens and politicians are like children who, when sick and hurting, cling to the mother, but once the pain goes away, are again not ready to treat their deep-rooted internal issues. The Gongadze case, as perhaps no other, reflects shortcomings brought by immaturity of our political class, public and journalist community, for it was this case that began the era of Ukrainian revolutions, it was the trigger for the broad-based public protest. Until we have a satisfactory closure to it, we will see no end to revolutions. However, this ‘boil’ can burst and bury us all next time, but no one cares.”
“FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, THE KUCHMA FAMILY CONCEIVED THE YALTA EUROPEAN STRATEGY PROJECT AS A TOOL IN THEIR CAMPAIGN TO WHITEWASH THE REPUTATION OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT”
Annual YES gatherings are a sight to behold. We do not mean the presentations’ content, for the forum is indeed a platform where the right words are said and thorough discussions are held quite often. No, we mean the forum as a reflection of our (lack of) responsibility and knowledge of the modern history of Ukraine. It is a test for politicians, public figures and journalists. The most recent YES gathering was no exception; on the contrary, it has confirmed that the major issues are still there. We will not analyze in detail all the developments of the event here; let us point to two examples.
First. During the speech by an Opposition Bloc MP who was a guest of the forum, other guests staged a protest. “As soon as the moderator invited Serhii Liovochkin to speak, I, along with my fellow MPs, journalists and civil society activists, stood up and held up a picture of one of the innocent victims from the Heavenly Hundred, the forever young 20-year-old Roman Huryk from Ivano-Frankivsk,” MP Anton Herashchenko posted on Facebook. “We stood up in a silent protest against the organizers inviting to the debate one of the architects of the Yanukovych regime, who has avoided retribution for his actions so far due to weakness and infighting in the Ukrainian government... I am grateful to Pavlo Sheremeta, Serhii Leshchenko, Valerii Pekar, Svitlana Zalishchuk, and other courageous citizens who initiated and supported this protest at the YES Forum today.”
Of course, those guilty of the Euromaidan killings should be brought to justice. However, the problem is much deeper. “It was Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Pinchuk taking a disciplinary action against their partner Liovochkin,” Podolsky posted on a social network. “They did it as always publicly and in an elegant manner, straight at the YES Forum, where there is no spontaneity to the crowd in anything, ever, under any circumstances... For some reason, though, no one thought to bring a photo of Georgy Gongadze, even though the protesters included almost all of his self-styled friends. Somehow, they had not realized that the 15th anniversary of Gongadze’s death is upon us, and that the best way to honor his memory would be by holding a protest in front of his murder’s instigator Leonid Kuchma. Is not Kuchma himself a man of blood, while the ‘protesters’ made a friendly visit to his event, for the YES gatherings are held for him? Why, then, the Pinchuk Foundation’s official partners from Ukrainska Pravda held up only portraits of the Heavenly Hundred? Where was a portrait of Gongadze?”
It is a logical question, and it prompted a strong response among users of social networks. They were divided, which once again demonstrated the lack of unity in society and of consolidation among the journalist community. Podolsky’s opponents, while emotional, did not provide any arguments and did not give a clear answer to his question: Why there is still no closure in the Gongadze-Podolsky case? “Firstly, what we are now seeing in Ukraine is a collusion of the so-called political elites. The old elites who were in power before and the new ones which came to the top as a result of the Revolution of Dignity work jointly to retain influence and preserve the political system built by all presidents, all political projects over 24 years. Moreover, they put the greatest effort into preventing qualitatively new political parties, new faces from entering the political scene, the government, and preventing replacement of the post-Soviet oligarchic system by a new, democratic one,” diplomat, member of the political council of the Power of People party Vadym Triukhan said in his comment for The Day.
“Secondly, the YES project was a brainchild of the Kuchma family from the very beginning, and one of the aims of this project was whitewashing Kuchma’s reputation as well as that of Pinchuk, his son-in-law who got wealthy during the Kuchma administration thanks to often illegal privatizations of state properties at ridiculously low prices,” the diplomat continued. “This objective is becoming even more urgent now, because allegations naming Kuchma as an accomplice to, or even the instigator of journalist Georgy Gongadze’s murder have reappeared in the press. Thirdly, the YES forums, held at the Livadia Palace, were strategically focused on the European direction. They looked for a roadmap to Ukraine’s membership in the EU. The organizers’ ambitious goal was to see Ukraine ready to join the EU in 2020. We see now that this idea has failed, and the strategy has proven itself ineffective. Moreover, Ukraine faces very different challenges at the moment, namely its very survival as an independent state and getting Europe and the world to oppose Russia as the latter is clearly displaying its aggressive neo-imperial ambitions. The last two forums saw this discussion platform turning moribund, as it has proven itself ineffective not only in promoting European integration, but even in whitewashing reputations of its creators Kuchma and Pinchuk.”
Now to our second example. The media also readily spread the picture showing current chairman of the Odesa Oblast State Administration Mikheil Saakashvili embracing former president of Ukraine Kuchma at this same YES forum. It brings to memory another photo, taken two years ago and showing one of the activists of the “Ukraine without Kuchma!” campaign Yurii Lutsenko publicly shaking Kuchma’s hand at a similar event. Of course, all foreigners at the forum were entitled to ask: what cause do you have to demand our support, if you have been unable to deal with the Gongadze-Podolsky case for 15 years yourselves? However, Saakashvili, for instance, is already a citizen of Ukraine, as were most guests of the YES.
“As for Georgian guests who were invited to the Ukrainian government and made appearance at this forum, I would describe their situation by an old saying: ‘When in Rome do as the Romans do.’ Having arrived in Ukraine, they essentially have to play by the rules that exist here,” Triukhan stressed. “Few of them go to the risk of making any public statements or public gestures against notorious Ukrainian politicians. The only one who sometimes allows himself this freedom is Saakashvili, but even he never picks fights with true heavyweights. For example, he criticizes Viktor Shokin and Arsenii Yatseniuk, but never Petro Poroshenko, or anyone having some serious influence on national politics.”
Forum guests seemed to have forgotten who was targeted by the Orange Maidan, even though many of them were its participants. They have likely forgotten also who brought into the government Viktor Yanukovych, whose rule sparked the second Maidan protest. It has less to do with Kuchma himself, although the crimes must be punished, and more with the clan oligarchic system that he created. It was it that Maidan protesters fought, it is a cause of the ongoing war as well, but the country has still seen Kuchma acting as the chief negotiator in Minsk and member of the Constitutional Commission.
“President Poroshenko decided to appoint Kuchma as Ukraine’s unofficial representative in the Minsk process. Why did Poroshenko do it?” member of the 1st through 4th and the 6th convocations of the Verkhovna Rada Taras Stetskiv asks. “Had it to do with his personal connections to Kuchma? Was it because of the formation of his business actually occurring during the Kuchma administration? Was this candidacy imposed on him as a result of an understanding reached between the US and Russia? We can guess all we want. If not for this commission to represent Ukraine in Minsk, Kuchma would have experienced no political rebirth. Certainly, Pinchuk will keep inviting his father-in-law to forums like the YES. Pinchuk became an oligarch during the Kuchma administration. But this has nothing to do with politics. This is a patron-client relationship. I think that Kuchma’s return to the political scene only increases the distance between people and government in this case. This is a profound political mistake on the part of the president of Ukraine, who has widened this gulf with his own hands. The government should consolidate the nation in wartime by defending the nation’s sovereign stance despite any sacrifices and difficulties. Unfortunately, Poroshenko and former president Kuchma go in a totally different direction. They look to resolve the conflict through some obscure political agreements.”
“There is also the problem that the history of independent Ukraine saw no quality pro-European platforms established for discussion and finding strategic solutions,” Triukhan added. “The Ukrainian political elites, civic activists, and representatives of foreign diplomatic circles ought to come together at such platforms. So far we have only the YES and the Security Forum. This is a problem. Ukrainian politicians and opinion leaders should seek to establish serious discussion platforms. These platforms should be inoffensive in their makeup and set realistic targets on Ukraine’s path to the leading positions in the world.”
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One of the appeals by the organizers of the abovementioned Gongadze memorial event reads: “Take the weapon of truth!” However, there can be only one truth. In this context, it was surprising to hear the words of Myroslava Gongadze’s legal representative Valentyna Telychenko, who was quoted as saying as recently as on September 15 by interfax.kiev.ua: “I think that now is the time when we can reach a realistic outcome. Now is perhaps the last opportunity for investigators to find the instigators of the murder, if it is possible at all. They are taking a comprehensive approach to investigating the murder of Gongadze. Pukach’s appeal trial is now being blocked by some politicians who are trying to use these proceedings for discrediting the current government. I am surprised to see journalist Podolsky, who is also a victim in the Gongadze case, joining this blockade effort.” Evidence why this is absolutely not the case can be seen in an earlier article in this newspaper (“In a Risk Zone,” The Day, No. 50, September 10, 2015).
“The people who wield power now became business leaders and politicians precisely during the Kuchma administration, I mean people such as Poroshenko and Yatseniuk, while Viktor Yushchenko even said then that Kuchma was their ‘father.’ Their parties – the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united), the Party of Regions and the Solidarity – also emerged in that period,” Druzenko stressed. “Therefore, they feel indebted to and see themselves as a continuation of the Kuchma regime. Our trouble is that we believe that nothing pure and good can appear in politics, that Ukrainian Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, George Washington are impossible. I think it is a huge flaw of Ukrainian society, because as soon as we start believing that politics is not a choice between a great evil and even greater one, Kuchma will immediately lose his political appeal altogether. After all, he cannot be absolved from responsibility under any circumstances, for any reason, both for the regime as such and for his involvement in individual murders. If one sweeps all issues under the carpet, they will still harm one, preventing reforms and sustainable development. Kuchma and Kuchmism as a phenomenon are such an issue within Ukrainian society, and they should be eradicated. Society has forgotten neither the Heavenly Hundred, nor Gongadze’s murder.”
