Georgiy Gongadze memorial walkway opens in Kyiv

A temporary walkway commemorating Georgiy Gongadze, a Ukrainian-Georgian journalist and activist who was kidnapped and murdered in September 2000, has been opened in the city of Kyiv. This event marked the beginning of Georgiy Gongadze Memorial Week.

The exhibition, located in front of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, can be visited for a week before it closes at 20:00 on 22 September, the team from the Georgiy Gongadze Prize reported.

"His contribution is felt everywhere – in the formation of civil society, in culture, identity, freedom of speech, and the development of the media," said Vladyslav Zinkevych, programme director for the Prize. "Georgiy’s thoughts, activity and worldview still remain relevant today.

This Walkway is another reminder that the Heroes of Ukraine cannot and will not be forgotten, and evil must always be punished. There is no place for threats, repressions and murders in Ukraine."

The Walkway, which consists of information boards about the journalist’s life and work, was created to showcase Georgiy’s contribution to the formation of democratic Ukraine, civil society and the spreading of the "Ukrainian voice" throughout the world.

The ceremonial opening of the Walkway was marked with speeches by:

• Tetyana Teren, Executive Director of PEN Ukraine;
• Myroslava Barchuk, Ukrainian journalist and TV presenter, Vice President of PEN Ukraine;
• Valentyna Telychenko, human rights activist and representative of the Gongadze family;
• Olha Salo, Deputy General Director of the National Memorial Complex of the Heavenly Hundred – Museum of the Revolution of Dignity;
• Mykhailo Tkach, investigative journalist at Ukrainska Pravda;
• Tetiana Pechonchyk, Head of the ZMINA Human Rights Centre;
• Oksana Romaniuk, Director of the Institute of Mass Media.

The event ended with honouring Georgiy’s memory and laying flowers at his grave. The journalist is buried at the Mykola Naberezhnyi Church (St Nicholas’) in Kyiv’s Podol district.

Background:

• The 2024 Georgiy Gongadze Prize was awarded to Tetiana Troshchynska, Director of the Department of Strategic Analysis and Development of Socially Impactful Content at Suspilne, Ukraine’s public broadcaster.
• Journalists Anna Babinets and Olha Rudenko were also nominated for the award.

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