Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, accused by rivals of involvement in the murder of an investigative reporter, gave evidence on Thursday in the long-running inquiry which dogged his later years in office. Kuchma has consistently denied he had anything to do with the murder in 2000 of reporter Georgiy Gongadze, a critic of the president and top businessmen. It was post-Soviet Ukraine's most high-profile crime for which two senior policemen have already been charged.
Yuri Kravchenko, the interior minister at the time of the murder, committed suicide last week, only hours before he was due to testify at the inquiry.
No concrete evidence has ever linked the ex-president to the crime. Kuchma, who stepped down in January when liberal Viktor Yushchenko took office, returned home this week from an extended holiday and has pledged to cooperate with investigators.
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