Igor Pavlovsky, an aide to lawmaker Mykola Palamarchuk, passed money from the person who ordered an acid attack on activist Kateryna Gandziuk to those who carried the attack out, friends of the slain activist have said.
The friends of the activist published the name of the go-between on Facebook late on Nov. 5 in a group called “Who ordered the killing of Katia Gandziuk?”
Pavlovsky was also named in a report published on the Telegram social media channel The Newsroom, by Kyiv journalists Tetiana Nikolayenko and Oksana Denysova. The journalists based the report on their own sources.
Gandziuk, a whistleblowing Kherson municipal official, died on Nov. 4 as a result of an acid attack on her on July 31 in the southern Ukrainian city. Police have arrested five suspects in her murder, all former war veterans, most of whom admitted their involvement.
Gandziuk’s friends claim that she knew about Pavlovskly’s involvement in the attack as well, as did police and prosecutors.
“They know but they cover it up,” they said, also claiming that Pavlovsky had managed to make a deal with the police to avoid arrest. They didn’t say who had ordered the attack, however.
Responding to the claims, Pavlovsky called the accusations a “heresy.” In an interview with Ukrainian television’s 112 Channel, he claimed he hadn’t known Gandziuk and had never met her, but confirmed he knew Sergiy Torbin, one of the attackers. He also admitted being questioned by the police and being a witness in the investigation into the attack on Gandziuk.
Palamarchuk, who is a lawmaker from President Petro Poroshenko’s party and also a retired police general, claimed in a press release shared by the party faction that he has nothing to do with Gandziuk’s case. However, he confirmed that Pavlovsky is his aide. Later Palamarchuk said that he had fired Pavlovsky.
Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, meanwhile, at parliamentary hearings into Gandziuk’s murder on Nov. 6, angrily slammed the activists for leaking information from the investigation. Lutsenko said the leak had been helpful to the 12 people who are suspects in the investigation into who ordered the attack on Gandziuk.
Head of National Police Sergiy Kniazev then told parliament that Torbin, who organized the attack on Gandziuk, had been paid $5,000 to carry it out.
Earlier, Gandziuk and her friends said they had no confidence in the police investigation. The police initially classified the attack on her as a hooliganism, and the person who they initially arrested as a suspect had to be released after journalists proved his alibi was true.
Gandziuk’s lawyer claims the case is not being investigated as a contract killing, which could allow the police to finish the investigation with a trial of the attackers, and without having to also track down the person who ordered the attack.
However, law enforcement agencies say the SBU state security service is now looking for those who ordered Gandziuk’s murder. President Poroshenko has said the investigation is following 20 lines of inquiry as to the motive for the attack on her.
Lawmakers on Nov. 6 voted to form a special parliamentary commission to investigate Gandziuk’s murder.
Lutsenko, however, claimed there was no need for this, as law enforcement could not share their materials with the lawmakers before the investigation is finished.
He added that investigators are now “half a step away” from identifying the person who ordered the killing.
