UKRAINE: GONGADZE CASE AND ELECTION POLITICS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIEV 000461

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/02/2016
TAGS: PHUM
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: GONGADZE CASE AND ELECTION POLITICS

REF: A. KIEV 224

B. 05 KIEV 4491

Classified By: Ambassador for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

Summary
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1. (C) Politicians and the judge associated with the Gongadze
case, wielding both implied carrots and sticks, have sought
the public silence of Myroslava Gongadze -- widow of slain
journalist Heorhiy Gongadze -- in the run-up to parliamentary
elections in March, according to Myroslava's lawyer Valentyna
Telychenko. Telychenko told us that politician Yuriy Boyko,
who sought a place on Rada Speaker Lytvyn's electoral list,
had suggested to her through intermediaries that Myroslava
Gongadze could enrich herself in the run-up to the election
by keeping her mouth shut. Telychenko implied that
politicians had "encouraged" Judge Hryhoryeva's go-slow
strategy; with Lytvyn's bloc battling to make it over the
3-percent threshold for parliamentary representation, public
reminders of Lytvyn's alleged instigating role in Heorhiy
Gongadze's 2000 murder and subsequent decapitation during the
last weeks of this spring's campaign could hurt his chances.
Other prominent politicians, including Socialist Party leader
Moroz (until recently a fervent backer of Gongadze case
prosecution),Justice Minister Holovaty and former Prosecutor
General Piskun, would also benefit if Myroslava Gongadze kept
a low profile during the campaign. The chief judge in the
Gongadze trial, Iryna Hryhoryeva, warned Telychenko January
30 that she feared for Telychenko's personal safety, a
message which Telychenko and Gongadze felt was aimed at
Myroslava as well. Hryhoryeva also made clear she planned to
drag out the trial of three policemen accused of murdering
Heorhiy Gongadze with frequent breaks so that any
"sensational" testimony from Myroslava or other witnesses
would not occur until after the election. End summary.

Threats and Bribes for Gongadze Attorney...
--------------


2. (SBU) Meeting with PolOffs January 31, attorney Valentyna
Telychenko provided disturbing new allegations about the
ongoing trial of three former police officers accused of
taking part in the 2000 murder and subsequent corporal
mutilation of prominent Ukrainian journalist Heorhiy Gongadze
(refs A-B). Telychenko represents Gongadze's widow,
Myroslava, in the court proceedings, which resumed February 1
in Kiev.


3. (C) Telychenko told us that Iryna Hryhoryeva, the chief
judge in the trial, cryptically warned her January 30 that:
"I am uneasy about your safety," offering no other details,
but repeating the phrase another three times during the
conversation. Telychenko took the vague warning as an
implicit threat, not so much physical but psychological,
aimed also at shaking Myroslava Gongadze, who resides in the
U.S. as a Voice of America reporter but will return to
Ukraine to testify in the trial.


4. (C) The judge's strange warning came in the wake of
several approaches by intermediaries of Ukrainian Republican
Party leader (and ex-NaftoHaz Chairman) Yuriy Boyko to buy
Myroslava's silence. Boyko's intermediaries approached
Telychenko twice, first in December after the trial's
preliminary hearing, and again recently in late January,
suggesting that "if you were smart enough, you could make big
money in this period," and adding that were Myroslava to
avoid mention of Rada Speaker Lytvyn and Ukrainska Pravda
editor Olena Prytula, "it would be good for both of you."
(Note: Prytula was Heorhiy Gongadze's lover at the time of
the murder; he was leaving her apartment when abducted by the
police team; she previously had been Lytvyn's protege and
rumored lover.) At the time of the first approach in
December, Boyko was attempting to gain entry to Lytvyn's
electoral list and could have been attempting to curry favor
with Lytvyn; the most recent approach came despite Boyko
having joined the SPDU(o) in Kravchuk/Medvedchuk-led Ne Tak!
bloc in the interim, having failed to join Lytvyn.


5. (C) Telychenko noted that the earliest implied threat to
Myroslava had come in September, when then-General Prosecutor
Piskun made a sick joke during a backstage confrontation
after a live TV debate on Fifth Channel that he could
"slaughter her" (ref A). In mid-January, a long-time
working-level contact in the General Prosecutor's Office
(GPO) suggested to Telychenko that Myroslava "just stop
mentioning Piskun" in her public comments because he was
"vindictive"; it was unclear whether this was meant as
friendly advice or another warning. In the face of these
multiple "suggestions," Telychenko noted that she might
request that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) protect
Myroslava during her next visit to Ukraine, in the same way
the SBU protected recording Major Melnychenko during his
recent visit to Ukraine.

...As the Election Campaign Heats Up
--------------

6. (C) Telychenko asserted that Myroslava Gongadze's
testimony and usual media coverage during her visits to
Ukraine posed a threat to Lytvyn's electoral campaign just as
polls showed Lytvyn's bloc on the Rada 3-percent threshold
bubble; the Speaker was fighting for every vote he could get.



7. (C) Lytvyn was not the only prominent Ukrainian politician
hoping that Myroslava would remain silent during the
campaign, Telychenko added. Socialist Party leader Oleksandr
Moroz, until recently an avid proponent of prosecuting the
Gongadze case, was reportedly "very unhappy" about the
prospect of being called as a witness in the trial; Prytula
was prepared to testify that Moroz had warned her and Heorhiy
Gongadze of "threats to their lives" the month before
Gongadze's disappearance and death. Telychenko explained
that Moroz may have learned of the plot to kill the
muckraking journalist via the infamous Melnychenko recordings
(ref B),and would have to explain in court what he knows
about the bugging of former President Kuchma's office and why
he did not do more to protect Gongadze. Justice Minister
Holovaty faced similar scrutiny over what he knew prior to
the murder (ref B). Telychenko asserted that the Socialist
Party had paid Mykola Melnychenko to "stay home and be quiet"
during the parliamentary campaign, adding that the former
presidential bodyguard recently reported health problems were
directly related to his heavy drinking. Former Prosecutor
General Piskun, on Party of Regions' Rada list and seeking to
be reinstated as Prosecutor General, also had an interest in
Myroslava's silence during the campaign, Telychenko said.

Trial slowdown: No Serious Testimony Before the Elections
-------------- --------------


8. (C) Assessing the general state of the trial, Telychenko
asserted that it was clear that Judge Hryhoryeva had been
paid to stall the proceedings and close some testimony to
outside observers; there would be no "blockbuster" testimony
before election day, whether from Myroslava Gongadze,
Prytula, or other key witnesses. When Telychenko tried to
arrange with Hryhoryeva a window in mid-February for
Myroslava to give her testimony, Hryhoryeva said that
defense-related testimony would last through March, given a
court schedule of no more than 2-3 short sessions per week.
The alleged excuse was that the other judge hearing the case
had a second "complex case" to manage. Hryhoryeva had also
consistently urged Telychenko to "spend more time preparing
and re-reading case documents." Hryhoryeva had also ruled
that when police officers were to testify, the court session
would be closed. No journalists would be permitted to
attend, and the testimony would be classified as "state
secrets"; attorneys like Telychenko would be able to attend

SIPDIS
only after signing nondisclosure agreements.


9. (C) Telychenko said the go-slow strategy and difficult
courtroom conditions has already sapped media interest in the
trial. When the trial resumed January 23, all three
defendents admitted their guilt in the murder, though two
claimed the murder had not been premeditated. This essential
fact was not picked up in any media accounts of the trial,
Telychenko lamented.

Comment
--------------


10. (C) Whatever the accuracy of Telychenko's unverified
allegations and interpretations, clearly there is much going
on behind the scenes, with some variously motivated actors
wishing to see the case prosecuted openly, expeditiously and
fully and others not. Beyond dispute is the lament that,
while significant progress has been achieved under the
Yushchenko government, justice in the most prominent
individual human rights case since Ukrainian independence
remains elusive.


11. (U) Visit Embassy Kiev's classified website at:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev.
HERBST