Ukraine's former President Leonid Kuchma has denied any involvement in the murder of investigative journalist Georgiy Gongadze in 2000.

Ukraine's former President Leonid Kuchma has denied any involvement in the murder of investigative journalist Georgiy Gongadze in 2000.

Mr Kuchma said he was ready to go "through hell" to prove his innocence.

He was speaking after arriving for questioning at the prosecutors' office in Kiev, a day after a criminal case was opened against him.

Mr Gongadze, a critic of Mr Kuchma, was abducted in September 2000. His headless body was found months later.

The Gongadze affair sparked massive street protests against Mr Kuchma's government at the time.

'Horrible provocation'
"I feel calm because I don't feel my guilt," Mr Kuchma said on Wednesday, after arriving at the prosecutor general's office in the Ukrainian capital.


Georgiy Gongadze's headless body was found in a forest
"For 10 years I've lived under severe pressure. But today I am morally ready to go through all the torments of hell so everybody knows what I've done and what I haven't done."

He also reiterated his belief that the Gongadze affair was a "horrible provocation against Ukraine and its president".

On Monday, prosecutors said Mr Kuchma, who served as president from 1994 to 2005, was suspected of abuse of power and giving illegal orders to the interior ministry which led to the killing of the reporter.

The prosecutors also said the former president was now banned from leaving the country.

Secret tapes
Mr Gongadze - who was the founder of the Ukrainska Pravda (Ukrainian Truth) website - had exposed high-level corruption and was an outspoken critic of Mr Kuchma.

In the early 2000s, the anti-Kuchma opposition claimed it had the proof that the former leader was involved in Mr Gongadze's murder, pointing to audio tapes secretly recorded in Mr Kuchma's office by one of his bodyguards.

The tapes contain a voice resembling that of Mr Kuchma and suggesting that Mr Gongadze should be "kidnapped by Chechens".

Mr Kuchma has not denied the voice in the recordings was his but insists it has been doctored to make him appear to say things he had not actually said.

Although the authenticity of the tapes - which caused a sensation in Ukraine at the time - has been repeatedly questioned, prosecutors on Tuesday said that they would be recognised as valid evidence in the case.

In 2009, Ukrainian officials arrested former interior ministry official Olexiy Pukach, who later confessed to personally strangling Mr Gongadze and then beheading him with an axe. Three other officials are serving jail terms for their part in the killing.

Prosecutors earlier said that former Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko, now dead, ordered Mr Gongadze's killing.

Mr Kravchenko is said to have committed suicide in 2005 - his body was found with two gunshot wounds to the head.

The Hawks have urged Czech fugitive Radovan Krecjir to hand himself over to authorities in connection with the murder of alleged Cape Town gangster Cyril Beeka

The Hawks have urged Czech fugitive Radovan Krecjir to hand himself over to authorities in connection with the murder of alleged Cape Town gangster Cyril Beeka, after a hit list naming Beeka was found in his home in a late night raid.

Speculation as to the motive has been rife after Beeka was killed in a drive-by shooting in Cape Town on Monday. Some believe he was murdered for his role in the Cape gang turf war, others believe he and Krejcir were involved in illicit diamond sales. 

 “We raided a house in Bedfordview but we did not find the suspect at the house but by raiding his house, we believe we have prevented the killing of three people,” said the Hawks’ McIntosh Polela.

Polela said some people were detained.

“We arrested a bodyguard and we arrested another suspect from a house of an associate of the suspect. These people were detained for questioning,” he said.

Krejcir has been linked to striptease boss Lolly Jackson’s murder, while also facing charges of fraud.

He allegedly claimed R4million from an insurance company after forcing a doctor to diagnose him with cancer to prevent him from being extradited back to his country.

Meanwhile, the Hawks said the three people named on a hit-list allegedly have been given added protection.

American soldiers abusing the bodies of Afghan civilians they have killed in cold blood.

The timing could not have been worse. Just as the West seeks to persuade a sceptical Arab world that it has the moral authority to intervene in Libya, nauseating images have appeared of American soldiers abusing the bodies of Afghan civilians they have killed in cold blood.

The photographs, leaked to Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine and published on Monday, show U.S. servicemen posing over a bloodied, half-naked body, and holding up the head of the dead man by grabbing his hair and turning his face to the camera as if he were a hunting trophy. 

No matter that the U.S. Army has apologised for the ‘repugnant’ pictures. No matter it insists this is an isolated incident and the twisted souvenir snaps are the work of a rogue Army unit, five of whose members have been charged with murder.

jury tonight found a Centre Hall woman guilty of murdering her husband, with the help of a Bellefonte man with whom she was having an affair.

The jury deliberated for less than two hours before finding Mirinda Boob and Ronald Heichel were each guilty of all the charges against them -- first and third-degree murder, criminal conspiracy to commit homicide and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.

The first-degree murder conviction means an automatic life sentence for each of them. They also were each sentenced to 20 to 40 years on the conspiracy charge.

The reaction of both was succinct:

"It sucks," Mirinda Boob said.

"God have mercy on their souls," said Heichel.

Prosecutors argued that Mirinda Boob and Heichel conspired to kill Samuel Boob, shooting him in the driveway of his Tusseyville Road home with his own shotgun on Aug. 23, 2009. Heichel was the last in a series of men with whom Mirinda Boob had affairs, and tried to get to kill her husband for her, prosecutors alleged.

The prosecution, led by District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller and Assistant District Attorney Nathan Boob, rested their case this morning, on the fifth day of the trial in Centre County Court. The defense presented only two witnesses before also resting.

The afternoon was devoted to closing arguments by each of the three attorneys -- Edward Blanarik, representing Mirinda Boob, Casey McClain representing Heichel, and Parks Miller.

The case went to the jury in early evening, and the panel deliberated about two hours before returning their verdict shortly before 9 p.m.

JURY in the trial of the man charged with murdering rugby player Shane Geoghegan will begin its fourth day of deliberations this morning.

JURY in the trial of the man charged with murdering rugby player Shane Geoghegan will begin its fourth day of deliberations this morning.

The jury is now down to 10 members, after a second juror was discharged yesterday so he could take a pre-booked flight. Mr Justice Paul Carney had already discharged a juror on Friday when his father became critically ill.

Barry Doyle (25) of Portland Row, Dublin; and Hyde Road, Limerick, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the 28-year-old Garryowen player in a case of mistaken identity.

The father of three admitted shooting Mr Geoghegan in video-taped Garda interviews, but has argued in the Central Criminal Court that detectives induced him into the confession.

Mr Geoghegan was shot dead near his home in Dooradoyle,Limerick, on November 9th, 2008.

The judge was about to send the jury to lunch yesterday when the juror asked to be excused to catch his flight.

The judge discharged him, noting that the juror had informed the court of this at the outset of the trial and had been assured it would be well over by now.

The remaining five men and five women had deliberated for a total of 10 hours and 46 minutes when they were sent home last night.

The judge told them that a majority verdict was no longer open to them due to their diminished numbers and that they must reach a unanimous verdict.

Ukraine's state prosecutor has formally opened a criminal case against the former president Leonid Kuchma on suspicion of involvement in organising the murder of opposition journalist Georgiy Gongadze

Ukraine's state prosecutor has formally opened a criminal case against the former president Leonid Kuchma on suspicion of involvement in organising the murder of opposition journalist Georgiy Gongadze in 2000.

"A criminal case has been opened in relation to Kuchma. He is suspected of involvement in illegal actions and the murder of ... Gongadze", the first deputy prosecutor general, Renat Kuzmin, told a news conference. He said restrictions had been imposed on Kuchma's movements.

Gongadze, whose online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda was sharply critical of Kuchma's term in office, disappeared in September 2000 in the capital, Kiev. His headless body was found six weeks later later in woodland outside the city.

The scandal deepened when a leading opposition politician made public audiotapes on which a voice, resembling that of Kuchma's, was heard ordering officials to "deal with" Gongadze.

Kuchma, 72, who was president for two terms from 1994 to 2005, has always denied any involvement in Gongadze's murder.

"Kuchma is suspected of abuse of power, of giving illegal instructions to the interior ministry's leadership which consequently led to the murder of the journalist," Kuzmin said. "The audio tapes ... are recognised as material evidence in the case," he added.

Police on Monday arrested a sixth suspect for the murder of renowned painter Cornelius Bosch.

Police on Monday arrested a sixth suspect for the murder of renowned painter Cornelius Bosch.

Bosch’s burnt body was discovered in a field after he went missing over two weeks ago.

Investigators managed to identify his body through his dental record during an autopsy. He sustained two bullet wounds to the head.

Police arrested five men in connection with his murder this weekend, including Bosch’s personal secretary.

Family spokesperson Lee Lerm said they were stunned by the news.

“We’re happy that five people have been arrested,” she said. “At least we now know who the culprits are. But we are very shocked about the fact that the person that he had helped for the last eight years is involved in this.” 

Four of the suspects appeared in the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court on Monday. Their case was postponed to March 23 for further investigations.

Bosch’s secretary is due to appear in court on Tuesday, while the sixth suspect is due in the dock on Wednesday.