Kuchma cleared of murder charge
The general prosecutor’s office opened the criminal case against Mr Kuchma, president of independent Ukraine from 1994 to 2005, last March on suspicion of involvement in the killing of Georgiy Gongadze.
However, a Kiev court yesterday ruled as unlawful the prosecutor’s case which had alleged abuse of office, leading to the death of the journalist.
Mr Kuchma, 73, had denied any role in the murder of the 31-year-old campaigning Mr Gongadze, whose headless body was found in woods a month and a half after he was abducted in 2000.