The Murder of Gongadze: 20 Years of Searching for the Truth | Documentary

Several questions in the history of independent Ukraine are yet to receive a definitive answer. ‘Who’s responsible for the murder of Georgiy Gongadze?’ is one of them. “The Murder of Gongadze: 20 Years of Searching for the Truth” is a documentary compiled of first-hand accounts of people who were around the co-founder of one of the country's first and most influential online publications, Ukrainska Pravda his murder in Kyiv in 2000. Those include his friends, colleagues, wife Myroslava, as well as people around the then-central government figures such as the press secretary of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. The official investigation had shown that Gongadze was kidnapped, decapitated, and taken to a forest for burial by serving law enforcement officers. The way at that time President Leonid Kuchma supposedly spoke about the journalist in the audio recordings made in his office indicates that even if Kuchma didn’t directly ask to kill Gongadze, he could have been partially responsible for it. Kuchma denies any role in the crime. 00:00-01:45 - What makes Gongadze case pivotal for the history 01:45-02:46 - Ukrainska Pravda Chief Editor on Gongadze Legacy 02:46-06:55 - Georgiy Gongadze as a journalist 06:55-08:52 - Launching Ukrainska Pravda 08:52-12:20 - Disappearance and Search for Gongadze 12:20-15:38 - Gongadze’s body had been found 15:38-23:13 –Tapes recorded at president Kuchma office are published 23:13-26:02 - ‘Ukraine Without Kuchma’ rallies, their impact on Orange Revolution 26:02-31:10 - Investigation after Kuchma’s presidency, Minister of Interior death 31:10-34:19 -Executors in the court, arrest of the killer - police general Oleksii Pukach 34:19-38:32 - The roles of the Ukrainian politicians in the case, story of Melnychenko 38:32-41:54 - Сourt case against Leonid Kuchma 41:54-44:42 - Who is responsible for the murder and who took advantage 44:42-46:56 - Co-founder of Ukrainska Pravda Olena Prytula about Kuchma, funeral 46:56-48:45 - The murder of Pavel Sheremet and impunity 48:45-50:14 –What happened to the people related to the case, final credits The murder case, and its lack of proper resolution, comes as a heavy burden on Ukraine’s history and present. If the country, to this day, can’t fully resolve a murder carried out by serving law enforcement officers, this paints a grim picture of the state of the jurisdiction in it. The case of the murder of Georgiy Gongadze in 2000 was followed by a number of attacks on independent journalists in the country – both physical and verbal – as well as the murder of another Ukrainska Pravda journalist, Pavel Sheremet, in 2016. The Gongadze case has been a challenge not only for them but also for several generations of Ukrainian journalists and activists who have spent years trying to establish the truth and focus public attention on the importance of uncovering this crime. The film The Murder of Gongadze: 20 Years of Searching for the Truth” is also a story of how the relations between the Ukrainian media and the authorities have changed over the past 20 years,, and the evolution of Ukrainian society from the first national protests – "Ukraine without Kuchma" and the Orange Revolution – to Euromaidan. The film has been made by the Ukrainian NGO “Public Interest Journalism Lab” http://en.journlab.online Translated into English by Maria Romanenko. Special thanks to Kari Hiepko Odermann, Romeo Korkiatski, Charles Maynes, Andrew Roth, Oliver Carrol, Gulliver Cragg, Aunty Kulykov, Matthew Kupfer and Peter Ruzavin. The English translation of the film has been made with the financial support of the European Union Moving Forward Together campaign. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the film’s authors and do not reflect the views of the European Union. A Ukrainian-language premiere of the documentary was aired by the Ukrainian Public Broadcaster:    • «Вбивство Гонгадзе. 20 років у пошуках пра...