 Follow up to previous posts
A UKRANIAN minister accused of being behind the plan to move tens of thousands of government supporters around the country to engage in illegal multiple voting in November's annulled presidential election, was found shot dead last night. The body of Heorhiy Kirpa, the minister of transport, was found in his country house just outside the Ukrainian capital Kiev, said Eduard Zanyuk, a spokesman for the country's railways. "The man has passed away. An investigation will clear up the circumstances," he said. "As soon as we decide on a cause of death, we'll manufacture find the evidence to back it up" |
Following the re-run election on Boxing Day and the victory for opposition leader Victor Yushchenko, Mr Kyrpa had been expected to face questioning and possible criminal prosecution for his part in the November vote rigging. Speculation in Kiev last night among demonstrators and diplomats was that he may have been assassinated by those fearing he would give investigators details of the extent of November's vote- rigging operation. However, local press also said he may have taken his own life. | "Yuri, how many "C's" are there in "suicide"? I've got to finish this note." |
Mr Kyrpa was a respected member of the government of Viktor Yanukovich. Before the vote-rigging controversy he had attained cross-party praise for reforming state railways and opening high speed rail links between the capital and several provincial cities. But the opposition claimed Mr Kirpa used his powers to allocate trains to transport Yanukovich supporters to vote at multiple polling stations in presidential balloting last month that was annulled by the Supreme Court. |