Georgiy Gongadze

Georgiy Gongadze
  • Георгій Ґонґадзе
  • გიორგი ღონღაძე
Born21 May 1969
Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
Disappeared16 September 2000
Kyiv, Ukraine
Died17 September 2000(2000-09-17) (aged 31)
Tarashcha Woods, Tarashcha Raion, Ukraine
Cause of deathMurder by Decapitation
Body discovered3 November 2000
Burial placeSt. Nicholas the Embankment Church [uk], Kyiv
Other namesGiya
CitizenshipUkraine
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Political activist, journalist
Years active1989–2000
Known forFounder of Ukrainska Pravda
Spouses
Mariana Stetsko
(m. 1990; div. 1992)
(m. 1996⁠–⁠2000)
Children2 daughters
Parents
  • Ruslan Gongadze (father)
  • Olesya Gongadze (mother)
Family1 stepbrother
AwardsHero of Ukraine
Military service
Allegiance
Branch/service
Years of service
  • 1987–1989
  • 1991–1993
Battles/wars

Georgiy Ruslanovych Gongadze[a] (21 May 1969 – 17 September 2000)[1] was a Georgian-Ukrainian journalist and film director who was kidnapped and murdered in 2000 near Kyiv. He founded the online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda along with Olena Prytula in 2000.

The circumstances of his death became a national scandal and a focus for protests against then-President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma. During the Cassette Scandal, audiotapes were released on which Kuchma, Volodymyr Lytvyn and other top-level administration officials are heard discussing the need to silence Gongadze for his online news reports about high-level corruption. Former Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko died of two gunshot wounds to the head on 4 March 2005, just hours before he was to begin providing testimony as a witness in the case. Kravchenko was the superior of the four policemen who were charged with Gongadze's murder soon after Kravchenko's death.[2] The official ruling of suicide was doubted by media reports.[2]

Three former officials of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's foreign surveillance department and criminal intelligence unit[3] (Valeriy Kostenko, Mykola Protasov and Oleksandr Popovych) accused of his murder were arrested in March 2005 and a fourth one (Oleksiy Pukach, the former chief of the unit[3]) in July 2009.[4] A court in Ukraine sentenced Protasov to a sentence of 13 years and Kostenko and Popovych to 12-year terms March 2008 (the trial had begun January 2006[5]) for the murder. Gongadze's family believe the trial had failed to bring the masterminds behind the killing to justice.[6] No one has yet been charged with giving the order for Gongadze's murder.[5]


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  1. ^ As established by the investigation and proved by the court. See Gongadze Case (2000–2008): A Legal Review by Dr iur Vyacheslav "Slavik" Bihun, LL.M. – http://www.bihun.info/jushits/jurhit/article/242/ Archived 27 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b Key suspect in Gongadze murder arrested; Pukach allegedly strangled journalist, but who gave the order? (UPDATED), Kyiv Post, (22 July 2009)
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Tymo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Key Ukraine murder trial begins, BBC News (9 January 2006)
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).