Georgy Gongadze's body still lies in cold storage in a morgue in Kiev. Only last week did the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General finally admit that according to exhaustive forensic tests, it is indeed the journalist's corpse.The cause of death has been given as torture followed by beheading, but the head has never been found. Many people in Ukraine believe the country's President, Leonid Kuchma, ordered Mr Gongadze's killing.
One of Mr Kuchma's former security officials leaked tapes last year in which the President was heard calling for Mr Gongadze to be got rid of. The result was a wave of mass street protests. Those protests proved unable to remove President Kuchma from office, and now the opposition hopes this anniversary will fuel a new campaign of demonstrations.
Crucially, Ukraine's most popular opposition politician, Viktor Yushchenko, has been sending mixed signals. Speaking at the weekend, he said Ukraine was currently in its biggest political crisis in the eleven years since the break-up of the Soviet Union - but he also stressed the need for dialogue between opposition forces and President Kuchma's administration.
Ray Furlong, BBC.
