Ukraine body is journalist's

Ukraine body is journalist's

Gongadze attacked official corruption

A beheaded body found more than two years ago near the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, is definitely that of missing campaigning journalist Georgiy Gongadze, new tests show.

The tests were carried out by Swiss forensic experts under the observation of Ukraine's prosecutor-general's office and international media freedom organisation Reporters without Borders.

Gongadze, who attacked what he saw as an incompetent and corrupt government via his crusading website Ukrayinska Pravda, was reported missing in September 2000.

A few weeks later a headless body scarred with acid burns was found in woodland.

Although the corpse was thought to be Gongadze's, doubt remained, with the journalist's mother in particular expressing reservations.

Previous forensic tests on the body yielded conflicting results.

Government complicity

The disappearance, and allegations of President Leonid Kuchma's complicity, triggered a wave of street protests calling for the president's resignation.

Reporters Without Borders secretary general Robert Menard told a news conference in Kiev that the "most plausible" version of Gongadze's death currently being considered by Ukrainian prosecutors pointed to the involvement of the Interior Ministry.

Tape recordings made secretly by President Kuchma's former bodyguard show the Ukrainian leader making apparent threats against Gongadze.

The president has repeatedly denied any involvement in the killing.