Kyiv, 20 September 2000 (RFE/RL) - Ukrainian police say they are looking into the possibility that missing journalist Heorhiy Gongadze has been murdered. Kyiv's police chief, Yuriy Smirnov, said police do not yet know whether Gongadze, who edited an Internet newspaper critical of the government, is dead or alive. But he said police fear the journalist is the victim of premeditated murder.
Gongadze also had a program on an independent radio station and was an outspoken critic of alleged corruption among high officials. He disappeared in Kyiv on his way home during the weekend.
Ukrainian journalists and lawmakers yesterday urged the government to fully investigate Gongadze's disappearance. An international media watchdog, the Vienna-based International Press Institute, expressed deep concern today over the case.