Former Ukrainian President Kuchma Questioned in Gongadze Investigation

Ukrainian officials say former President Leonid Kuchma has been questioned in the investigation into the murder of a journalist more than four years ago.

The prosecutor general's office said officials talked to Mr. Kuchma Thursday as a witness in connection with the slaying of Georgy Gongadze.

Mr. Gongadze was an investigative Internet journalist who had been critical of Mr. Kuchma's government. He disappeared in September 2000 from Kiev, and his decapitated body was found weeks later in a wooded area outside the capital.

Mr. Kuchma's former bodyguard has what he says are secretly recorded conversations of Mr. Kuchma implicating himself in the killing. The former president has denied any involvement.

Last week, former Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko was found dead in what officials said was a suicide, hours before he was to be questioned in the Gongadze case.