New twist in Ukraine poisoning case

UKRAINE: VICTOR YUSHCHENKO yesterday threw the four-year investigation into his near-fatal dioxin poisoning into turmoil when he implicated a former close friend.

Asked during a press conference if he suspected David Zhvania, godfather to one of his children, the Ukrainian president said: "I think, yes. And that is putting it softly."

The question was prompted by persistent rumours of Mr Zhvania's involvement in the September 2004 poisoning that disfigured Mr Yushchenko's face.

A Georgian native and Ukrainian parliamentarian for a pro-Yushchenko party, Mr Zhvania held a senior position in the president's hard-fought 2004 election campaign.

Mr Zhvania has denied involvement in the case and has cast doubt on whether Mr Yushchenko was poisoned, suggesting the illness might have been caused by pancreatitis, herpes and facial nerve inflammation. He has also accused the president's office of spearheading a campaign to strip him of his Ukrainian citizenship. Mr Yushchenko declined to discuss the issue in detail so as not to interfere in an investigation. Prosecutors say there are no formal suspects.

The case has gripped Ukraine since the pro-democracy Orange Revolution of 2004 propelled Mr Yushchenko to power over Kremlin-backed candidate Victor Yanukovich. In the past, Mr Yushchenko had suggested the main suspects in the poisoning had fled to Russia.

- (Financial Times)

© 2008 The Irish Times

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