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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Late evening 25 of March 1999 of the year marked a tragic chapter in the history of Independent Ukraine, cutting short the life of one of the most prominent politicians and dissidents — Vyacheslav Chornovil. The collision of his passenger car with a heavy freight truck on a dark highway near Boryspil was labeled by the official investigation as a simple accident, but this version immediately aroused deep suspicions among the public.
Debates around it have not ceased to this day. And the shadow of that tragedy continues to hang over Ukraine's political landscape, because for many of his supporters the death of Chornovil seems all too like a classic pattern of removing an inconvenient and influential opposition leader before decisive presidential elections. Have Ukrainians heard exhaustive answers to the key questions, 24 Channel will tell a little more.
Fatal Maneuver of the KamAZ: how did the tragedy on the Boryspil highway happen?.
Around 23:30 25 March 1999 year the Toyota Corolla, in which Vyacheslav Chornovil was returning to Kyiv after a exhausting but successful working trip to Kirovohrad (now Kropyvnytskyi), was traveling along the Boryspil–Zolotonosha road. At the wheel was Yevhen Pavlov — an extremely experienced driver whom the politician fully trusted. The road was empty — but suddenly on a completely unlit stretch in front of the car rose a solid steel wall. It was a KamAZ truck with a massive trailer, fully loaded with grain.
The multi-ton vehicle performed a turn in such a way that its trailer practically blocked both traffic lanes at almost a right angle. The Toyota's speed was about 110 kilometers per hour, and there was no chance for the driver to avoid the collision or brake in time. The impact was so devastating that Vyacheslav Chornovil and Yevhen Pavlov, who were in the front seats, died. Miraculously, press secretary Dmytro Onomar(ch)uk survived — at the moment of the fatal impact he was sleeping in the rear seat of the car.
The reaction of the law enforcement system shocked society with its unprecedented haste. The very next morning, when basic highway safety and forensic medical examinations had not even been appointed yet, then Minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Kravchenko gave an unequivocal statement — publicly rejecting any versions of an assassination, categorically calling the incident a ordinary accident. Such swift readiness of the authorities to turn a blind eye to obvious discrepancies became the first powerful trigger that forced Chornovil's allies to launch their own independent investigation.
25 March 1999 — who killed Vyacheslav Chornovil: watch the video historyforadults_ua
Destroyed evidence, enigmatic deaths and the version of “finishing off with cudgels”
The deeper independent investigators and journalists plunged into the case materials, the more glaring anomalies they found. Professional drivers and traffic safety experts unanimously stated that the KamAZ maneuver contradicted any rules and logic. The truck began a turn and stopped, blocking the road, exactly at the moment when the opposition leader's Toyota was approaching. This did not look like a driver’s mistake, but a classic and cold-bloodedly calculated ambush.
Then a real mystique began to unfold around the case, typical for political thrillers. The main witness of the tragedy — KamAZ passenger Ivan Sholom, who could tell what happened in the truck's cab before the maneuver — suddenly died. Official cause — a heart attack, but later information appeared about possible traces of poisonous substances in his body. The truck driver Volodymyr Kudelia, despite obvious violation of traffic rules, did not face real punishment — he unexpectedly came under amnesty, and later the investigation lost interest in him.
Even bigger shock was the treatment of physical evidence. The damaged Toyota Corolla, which was the key to understanding the accident's mechanics, was quickly disposed of — forever making independent crash tests and verification of why airbags did not deploy in a modern car impossible. But the most chilling version was later voiced by former Deputy Prosecutor General Mykola Holomsha and the deceased's son Taras Chornovil.
According to them, after the terrible collision the leader of the People’s Movement and his driver could still be alive. They were allegedly finished off with professional blows to the head by cudgels. This theory was supported by specific skull injuries that physically could not have formed from a blow to the instrument panel during the crash. But despite the family’s demands and the results of the exhumation, the judicial system did not dare give this version official course.
What do we have as a result today? Legally, the investigation into Vyacheslav Chornovil's death is still ongoing — the court decision to close the case due to statute of limitations was overturned by an appellate instance in 2014 year. Yet those responsible for a likely ordered killing have not been punished. So this story remains an open, painful scar on the body of Ukrainian justice, as society still has not heard the final truth about how the death of one of the fathers of Ukrainian independence actually occurred.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Таємниця загибелі В'ячеслава Чорновола: чому офіційна версія про ДТП досі викликає сумніви". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Channel 24.
