Interfax Ukraine quotes London’s Independent to the effect that Ukrainian physician Valery Ivasiuk, who took part in examining the Tarashcha body, has sought political asylum in Great Britain. Dr. Ivasiuk fled Kyiv on January 21, leaving behind his wife and two children. According to the newspaper’s information, after Ivasiuk called in public for complete investigation of the Gongadze case, he was threatened by Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) officers. At a number of press conferences the medical doctor expressed his disagreement with Prosecutor General Mykhailo Potebenko’s statements about the body’s uncertain identification, says The Independent. Later Ivasiuk told the London newspaper that SBU men began telling him that he would soon be arrested and drop hints that his life was threatened. At present, the situation looks absolutely absurd and smacks of blackmail.
Incidentally, the information issued on February 12 by the International Media Institute that the results of an examination of the audio tapes allegedly containing the voices of the Ukrainian top leaders conducted by the institute together with Freedom House will be submitted for the verdict of media representatives is also questionable. As Interfax Ukraine was informed at the Institute, representatives of leading mass media outlets will have the chance to cross examine the experts. This procedure will be supervised by independent observers from the Council of Europe and the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe. After that media representatives will form a media jury and vote for or against identifying the voices on the tapes as those of Ukrainian top officials. At the same time, however, the results will not be considered the examination’s official results. This action can hardly be seen as a juridical one but as a PR one. Simultaneously, the US State Department called upon the Ukrainian government to conduct a thorough investigation of the Heorhy Gongadze case.
