Reporters Without Borders’ Letter to Ukraine Prosecutor General

Mr. Oleksandr Medvedko Ukraine Prosecutor General Prosecutor General’s Office 13/15 Riznytska Street 01011 Kiev, Ukraine DC 20500 Paris, 10 August 2009 Dear Prosecutor General Medvedko, Reporters Without Borders, an organisation that defends press freedom worldwide, would like to refer you to the Georgy Gongadze murder investigation. There have been several positive developments of late, especially the arrest and revelations of Gen. Olexy Pukach, the former head of foreign intelligence in the interior ministry. We are closely following your department’s efforts to solve this murder and to finally bring all those responsible to trial after several years of paralysis. Reporters Without Borders has only one desire, that those who instigated this murder are finally exposed and convicted regardless of the high office they may have held or still hold. Their sentences must be exemplary and President Viktor Yushchenko has himself said as much on several occasions. We share the wish of Mr. Gongadze’s widow, Myroslava Gongadze, and her lawyer, Valentyna Telyshenko, that Gen. Pukach’s confessions be made public. And we therefore urge you to release the text of the statements he has made since his arrest. This is the only way to demonstrate that both the judicial and political authorities are determined to get to the bottom of this case regardless of the identity of the figures implicated. Also important is the forensic examination of the skull that has been found as a result of the information provided by Gen. Pukach, as this skull could be Mr. Gongadze’s. Because of the pressure that could be placed on the forensic specialists, Reporters Without Borders supports the request by Myroslava Gongadze and her lawyer for a forensic examination to be carried out abroad by independent experts, in addition, if necessary, to an examination carried out in Ukraine. We hope, Prosecutor General, after so many years without any progress in the investigation into Mr. Gongadze’s brutal murder, that you will not oppose the publication of Gen. Pukach’s statements and or an international forensic examination of the newly discovered skull. We look forward to your reply. Respectfully, Jean-François Julliard, Secretary-General Read in Ukrainian/читать на украинском