Ex-Ukrainian interior minister found dead

Ukraine's interior minister was found dead yesterday Friday, hours before he was due to be questioned over the murder of an investigative journalist.

The body of Yuri Kravchenko was found by his wife at his dacha outside Kiev. Local media reported he was holding a pistol and had a bullet wound to his temple.

President Viktor Yushchenko suggested that he had killed himself after he had been implicated in the killing of Georgy Gongadze, 31, whose decapitated corpse was found in a forest in 2000.

Interfax agency reported that Kravchenko left behind a suicide note, in which he blamed the former president Leonid Kuchma and his entourage for his death. He said in the note that he was taking his life to save his family from"attacks."

Some however, suggested that the former minister might have been murdered to prevent him exposing accomplices in the current administration. Unconfirmed reports said he had two gunshot wounds to his head.

Yushchenko a full investigation, but implied that the former minister had been overcome by guilt and taken his life.

"Every person has their own personal tribunal," he told journalists. "Every person has a choice: To go and cooperate with the prosecutor, to give evidence, to stand up for their rights and honor. Or there is a second option: To pronounce one's own sentence."

Police Kiev announced this week that they had detained four men responsible for Gongadze's killing. A day later, prosecution officials said the mastermind behind the killing had been identified.

Kravchenko due to be interrogated at 10am Friday, but his body was discovered earlier that morning. It was not clear how long he had been dead. The 54-year-old was interior minister from 1995 to 2001 under former president Kuchma, who some accuse of ordering Gongadze's murder. Secretly recorded tapes that emerged after the journalist's death appear to capture the two politicians complaining about his reporting and discussing ways to eradicate him.

Kuchma denies involvement, saying the tapes were falsified.

Gongadze's prompted months of protests against Kuchma, who is currently at a spa in the Czech Republic. Last night, Ukrainian television reported him as saying he would return to Kiev today after hearing of the former minister's death. Prosecutors refused to say yesterday whether the former president would be questioned over the case.

One MP, Stepan Khmara, called for him to be "taken into protective custody immediately." Others said Kravchenko should have been detained so that his testimony was guaranteed to be heard in court.

Politicians to President Yushchenko said Kravchenko had killed himself out of shame. But others suggested he could have been killed or pushed to suicide by someone from Yushchenko's circle who was previously close to Kuchma and knew they might be exposed if Kravchenko talked.