By Ron Popeski
KIEV (Reuters) - Former Ukraine president Leonid Kuchma, suspected by rivals over the murder of an investigative journalist, returned home on Saturday after an interior minister linked to the case committed suicide.
Kuchma's rivals have linked him to the murder in 2000 of Georgiy Gongadze but no conclusive evidence has been produced and Kuchma maintains his innocence.
New President Viktor Yushchenko said this week, before the suicide of the former interior minister, that the Gongadze case had been solved.
He accused Kuchma's administration of trying to cover up for the perpetrators and said closing the investigation was a matter of "personal honor."
Officiais said ex-interior minister Yuri Kravchenko had shot himself twice on Friday and left a note describing himself as "a victim of the intrigues of Kuchma and his entourage."
Kuchma declined to speak to reporters after arriving at Kiev airport from a holiday in the Czech Republic. "I said everything I had to say yesterday," he said before being driven away.
He said on Friday in the Czech resort of Karlovy Vary: "Before God, before the people, I have a clear conscience."
The head of Ukraine's SBU security service, Oleksander Turchinov, said Kravchenko had failed to kill himself with an initial shot and had then fired a second time to the temple.
The handwritten note found on the victim, he said, confirmed the theory of suicide.
NO SUMMONS YET FOR KUCHMA
The murder of Gongadze, 31, became a turning point in the ex-president's 10 years in office, but there has so far been no indication that he is to be summoned for questioning
Justice Minister Roman Zvarych said Kuchma would be given additional personal protection if he wanted it.
"If he feels the protection provided by government order is inadequate, it can be reinforced," Zvarych told reporters.
Kuchma was linked to the murder by a former bodyguard who fled Ukraine with tapes recorded secretly in his office. In one excerpt, a voice similar to Kuchma's was heard giving an order to "deal with" Gongadze, a critic of Kuchma and top businessmen.
Kravchenko, interior minister at the time of the murder, had been due to give evidence to prosecutors hours after his body was found at his country home outside Kiev.
A member of Yushchenko's team suggested Kuchma had to clear up uncertainty over Kravchenko's death and the apparent suicide in December of another former cabinet minister, Heorhiy Kyrpa.
"When I heard he was flying home, I concluded it was an absolutely normal thing to do," State Secretary Oleksander Zinchenko said of Kuchma in televised comments.
"But it is clear this is not the happiest time for him. Kravchenko and Kyrpa were close to him and he had plenty of contact with both. I think he will now be reminded of many difficult circumstances."
