BRAMA, November 15, 2000, 11:00pm EST

Body of missing journalist found and lost?

©HK/БРАМА PHOTO: - Журналіст Георгій Гонгадзе, у бюрі Українського Конґресового Комітету Америки (УККА) в Нью-Йорку. 17 грудня 1999р. - Heorhiy Honhadze, photographed on December 17, 1999 at the headquarters of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America in New York. Honhadze visited the U.S. in December 1999, meeting with community and press organizations in search of support for a proposed free press group. Upon his return to Ukraine, Honhadze and his colleagues established "Ukrayinska Pravda", which has rapidly acquired a reputation as a publication critical of Ukraine's current government. More about this story >>

Kyiv - Interfax-Ukraine reports that a decapitated body found buried in a wooded area in Tarashchanskyi raion outside Kyiv may have been that of the missing journalist Heorhyi Gongadze (Ukrainska Pravda) who disappeared on September 16. A positive id of the beheaded remains was made by a UP colleague based on x-rays of one of the hands which showed schrapnel consistent with wounds Gongadze received while covering a story in Abkhazia, and a description by the coroner of jewelry found on the body when it was discovered. Then, while arrangements were being made to transport the remains to Kyiv, the body mysteriously disappeared without a trace. Without the head, a positive id based on dental records is impossible and visual identification of a decomposed body is difficult. Olena Prytula, editor-in-chief of UP, and the UP staff are nevertheless convinced that the remains seen in Tarashcha were those of Gongadze. Police reported finding the decomposed corpse on November 3. After requesting descriptions of jewelry worn by the missing journalist, they determined that the body could not be Gongadze's claiming that the one they discovered was dead for at least 2 or 3 years. However, the coroner's examination of the same corpse revealed traces of chemically induced decomposition suggesting otherwise. The mystery surrounding vanishing journalist Heorhyi Gongadze is no closer to being solved now that the Terashcha body has disappeared.

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