On August 29 famous public figure and Journalist Oleksii Podolsky wrote in his LiveJournal that he had addressed the editor-in-chief of Ukrainska Pravda Olena Prytula asking her to open his blog in the web paper.
“… As an aggrieved person I continue directly participating in all processes connected with the investigation of the crimes [especially, concerning the murder of Heorhii Gongadze, Podolsky mentioned above. – Author], committed at the order of President Kuchma. That is why I think I have to do my best to let the Ukrainian society know the truth about falsifying the investigation of these cases by the Ukrainian law-reinforcement bodies and judiciary. … That is why I am asking you to let me open my blog in your reputable edition,” Podolsky wrote.
Then he quoted the brief reply he got from the editorial staff (not from the editor-in-chief): “Mr. Podolsky, we will be grateful if you write an article about it.”
One can see from Podolsky’s entries that he addressed the editor-in-chief for the second time asking her to specify: “Does your reply mean that I am not allowed to open a blog?” According to Podolsky, aggrieved in Gongadze case, in 2007 and 2010 his articles were rejected twice as their content “did not fit to the format of Ukrainska Pravda.”
“Believe me, I understand perfectly well that only uneducated people knock twice on the closed door. At the same time I hope that for the sake of our common goal you will give me a possibility to open a blog as an instrument to inform the Ukrainian society. It is highly important to do it now when this case is in the center of attention of Helsinki Commission at the Congress of the USA that regularly contacts me,” Podolsy wrote at the very end.
Certainly, it is up to Ukrainska Pravda to open the blog or not to do it. But… It is known that Oleksii Podolsky and the founder of Ukrainska Pravda Heorhii Gongadze became victims of similar crimes, committed in June 2000. The difference is that Podolsky was lucky to stay alive. Besides, today he is the aggrieved person in Gongadze case.
We addressed Ukrainska Pravda asking them to comment on the situation. However, we never got the answers to our questions.
Maybe, Podolsky got the answer to his second question from Ukrainska Pravda? “I politely addressed the editor-in-chief of Ukrainska Pravda, however, I have not got any reply to my request yet,” he told The Day. “In my opinion, blogs in Ukrainska Pravda are formed on a very democratic basis. Representatives of different political forces have a possibility to speak their mind, even such an odious person as Vadym Kolesnichenko. That is why I do not understand why nobody replies and if I should take their silence as a refuse, they do not explain why.”
As follows, Podolsky explains why he decided to approach Ukrainska Pravda. “The thing is that the LiveJournal is an everyday resource whereas Ukrainska Pravda is read by the people who should be interested in Gongadze case, he says. The more that this web-page is directly related to Heorhii Gongadze. I think that Olena Prytula who, judging from her biography was Gongadze’s close associate, is interested, just like me, in punishing everyone who is guilty in Gongadze case: those who committed the murder and those who ordered it.
Podolsky emphasized once again that his main goal is to inform the Ukrainian society about unknown facts in resonant cases: “Of course, the story with my blog is very unpleasant, but I strongly believe that the Ukrainian society would benefit if it gets the information I find out. In conditions when many facts and events related to Gongadze case are deliberately hushed up it is extremely important.”
“For example, wide audience never got the information about what happened in the US during the meeting of Helsinki Commission at the Congress of the USA this May,” Podolsky continued, when the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara was asked questions about the crimes against the deputy of two convocations Oleksandr Yeliashkevych, me, and journalist Heorhii Gongadze. By the way, the minister has not given the information he publicly promised to give during Helsinki hearings. Of course, this information is not convenient for the people, involved in those crimes and supporters of the former president Leonid Kuchma.”
Podolsky assures that there will be new information that will have to be brought to the society. “I am going to the US in the nearest time. It is well known that the US are worried by the absence of progress in the investigation of resonant cases in Ukraine. Even now I have serious information concerning the efforts from the American side put into investigation of the crimes against Yeliashkevych, me, and Gongadze, however, I cannot make it public right now.”
At the very end Podolsky summed up: “I have no idea about the policy of Ukrainska Pravda but I find this edition quite reputable. However, the behavior of the management of the web-page is quite strange. I do not want to believe that it has something to do with the sponsor’s help coming from Leonid Kuchma’s son-in-law Viktor Pinchuk. I hope they refuse to open my blog because of some technical misunderstandings. This is why I decided to publish these letters-appeals in my LiveJournal. I hope that the situation will be resolved in a positive way.”
Our readers are invited to come up with their own conclusions regarding this situation.
