Memorial plaque to Georgiy Gongadze unveiled in Kyiv

A memorial plaque to Hero of Ukraine, Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze has been unveiled on the facade of the building of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine in Kyiv.

"Today, the Cultural Heritage Protection Department [of the Kyiv City State Administration] has unveiled a memorial plaque to prominent Ukrainian journalist, Hero of Ukraine Georgiy Gongadze. Georgiy made a huge contribution to the development of Ukraine's independence, the development of independent media and freedom of speech. He laid down his life for Ukraine. The audacious assassination became a starting point in the Ukrainian journalism," said Oleksandr Nykoriak, director of the Cultural Heritage Protection Department of the Kyiv City State Administration at the unveiling ceremony, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Chairperson of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine Serhiy Tomilenko noted that the vast majority of journalists currently working in the media work "under the sign of fate" of Georgiy Gongadze. According to him, Gongadze's fate shows how dangerous the profession of a journalist is.

"Dozens of incidents of physical aggression are recorded every year. Since the beginning of the current year, we have registered 49 such cases. Journalists are harassed, beaten, cameras are damaged, [offenders] try to impede journalists’ work," Tomilenko said.

The 20th anniversary of the disappearance of Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze is marked today, on September 16.

Georgiy Gongadze (1969-2000) was a Ukrainian journalist, founder and first editor-in-chief of the Ukrayinska Pravda online newspaper. He was born in Tbilisi. Gongadze started visiting Ukraine in the late 1980s as a representative of the information agency of the People’s Front of Georgia. The journalist worked for the Lviv office of the People's Movement of Ukraine and cooperated with a number of Ukrainian media outlets after the USSR had collapsed.

In April 2000, Gongadze founded the Ukrayinska Pravda online newspaper. Six months later, on September 16, the journalist went missing.

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