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Morley Safer Letter 10 17May99 Who murdered Volodymyr Katelnytsky?
It is conceivable that had you not broadcast The Ugly Face of Freedom, Volodymyr
Katelnytsky would be alive today. And it is all the more conceivable that had you used
the opportunity of your broadcast to defend Ukrainians against their oppressors,
Volodymyr Katelnytsky would be alive today.
May 17, 1999
Morley Safer
60 Minutes, CBS Television
51 W 52nd Street
New York, NY
USA 10019
Morley Safer:
Who Murdered Volodymyr Katelnytsky?
The death of Volodymyr Katelnytsky
My source is a Ukrainskyi Holos (Ukrainian Voice) article mailed to me by someone that
knew Volodymyr Katelnytsky. The citation that is hand-written on the article is "4-20
August, 1997, p. 1."
The Ukrainskyi Holos article reports that Volodymyr Katelnytsky was tortured to death in
his apartment in Kyiv, Ukraine on the night of 7-8 July 1997. His mother, Lykeria, who
was 81 years old, was tortured and died before the eyes of her son; her body was found
with 21 stab wounds. When Katelnytsky's sister tried to enter the apartment in which
the crime had been committed, she was roughed up by Kyiv police. Some members of the
Katelnytsky family were arrested. The murders are considered to have been politically
motivated. Volodymyr Katelnytsky's funeral was attended by some two thousand mourners.
The life of Volodymyr Katelnytsky
Volodymyr Katelnytsky was a professional journalist. He was active in the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church, Kyiv Patriarchate, was head of the Brotherhood of St. Andrej
Pervozvanyi in Kyiv, and supervised the tour of the chief cities of Ukraine by
Metropolitan Wasyl in May 1993. He was also active politically, serving as Deputy Head
of the Ukrainian Christian Democratic Party. In Canada and the United States, he may be
best remembered for the role he played as President of the Committee for the Defense of
John Demjanjuk.
Also prominent among Volodymyr Katelnytsky's activities was the dissemination of a
Ukrainian version of what happened at Babyn Yar, similar, I believe, to the version
advocated on the Ukrainian Archive. One result of Volodymyr Katelnytsky's Babyn Yar
activities is that he was sued for them by Jewish organizations in Ukrainian court, that
in his defense he brought forward historical aerial reconnaissance photographs showing
that none of the activities said to have taken place at Babyn Yar was visible from the
air - not visible, that is, were signs of the execution and burial of 33,771 Jews, or
the later disinterment and burning of their bodies. As a result of his convincing
defense, the court acquitted Volodymyr Katelnytsky of the charges brought against him.
Who murdered Volodymyr Katelnytsky?
As we have no direct evidence of who murdered Volodymyr Katelnytsky, we can only perform
a Cui bono? analysis which will at least tell us where to start looking. That is, if it
is the case that the three most prominent events in Volodymyr Katelnytsky's life were: