The First And Second Murders Of Heorhiy Gongadze - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2010
The First And Second Murders Of Heorhiy Gongadze
September 18, 2010 By Serhiy Hrabovsky
Heorhiy Gongadze was murdered in 2000.
An entire epoch has passed since the disappearance and murder 10 years ago of Ukrainian journalist Heorhiy Gongadze. The age of former President Leonid Kuchma, which gave rise to secret units of Interior Ministry officers (the so-called “Kravchenko eagles” who dealt with opponents of the regime in illegal and often lethal ways) too has passed.
Kuchmaism began in Ukraine in 1994. Then, under mysterious circumstances, the chairman of the Ukrainian Barristers Union went missing. Enigmatic deaths that remain unanswered to this day followed: former National Bank Chairman Vadym Hetman, opposition leader Vyacheslav Chornovil, businessman and parliament Deputy Yevhen Shcherban, and many others. Prominent politicians, parliamentarians, journalists -- some died in strange road accidents, others were assassinated, and others seemingly took their own lives.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – No EU money can flow to Ukraine's state programmes for the environment unless the government opens up to input from civil society, the European Commission said on Friday (24 September), while separately welcoming Kiev's new commitment to adapt its energy legislation to EU law.According to Bankwatch, an umbrella network of enviromental NGOs working in central and eastern Europe, Ukraine's environment strategy is being drafted in an undemocratic way and is "deceptive," because it allows an actual increase in CO2 emissions by 2020. By pledging to respect the EU target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 compared to the 1990 levels, Ukraine can actually afford an increase of its current levels, as due to its industrial downturn, it currently emits less than half the CO2 it did in 1990.
