MOSCOW, January 11 (RIA Novosti) - The widow of a Ukrainian investigative journalist whose murder became a focal point in the "orange revolution" that swept new authorities to power in 2004 said Wednesday she was unhappy with how the investigation into his killing was proceeding.
Myroslava Gongadze, whose husband Heorhiy vanished in 2000 before his headless body was later found in a forest, told journalists in Moscow: "Neither we nor the Ukrainian public are happy with the process."
The investigation into Gongadze's murder has been continuing for five years. The circumstances of his death caused a massive scandal in his homeland and threatened to bring down the government after reports surfaced about a tape allegedly featuring a conversation between the then president, Leonid Kuchma, and other senior officials of the country discussing a plan to kill the journalist.
According to Gongadze's widow, there are two cases: one involves the three police officers who are now facing trial on murder charges, and the other involves the people who ordered the slaying.
"We are not allowed to follow the latter," Gongadze's widow said. "The policemen should be punished, of course, but not only them. I will try to find new witnesses, and the people who ordered the killing will be named."
She also said the investigation had been slowed down on numerous excuses, including the need for expert examination of the tape, which was recorded by a one-time bodyguard of Kuchma, Mykola Melnichenko.
Ms. Gongadze said she was certain that the tape was authentic. "What I have heard leaves no doubt that these were the voices of Kuchma, Lytvyn [now parliamentary speaker] and [then chairman of the National Security Service Leonid] Derkach," she said. "They were discussing how to get rid of Heorhiy."
She said Ukraine's political elite was not interested in solving the crime. "If Pandora Box is opened, many could be facing murder charges," she said.
When the "orange revolution" brought Viktor Yushchenko to power, he promised to expose the mystery around the murder of Gongadze, which was one reason often given for people's distrust in the Kuchma regime.
However, the people behind the murder still have been unidentified.
Gongadze's widow also said the trial of the three policemen, which resumed Monday in Kiev's Court of Appeal, remained closed for public, despite Yushchenko's promises.
"It is not a trial, it is an absurdity," she said. "I have to sit a meter away from the defendants, on the same bench with their lawyer. It is hard to endure psychologically."
She said she hoped the next hearings on January 23 would be open, including for journalists.
