Ukrainian police have arrested a key suspect in the murder of the journalist Georgiy Gongadze, whose killing nine years ago prompted widespread protest.

Oleksiy Pukach was the chief of the interior ministry’s surveillance department at the time of the killing.

He was the fourth man named by prosecutors as a suspect in the killing. The three others – all former policemen – were jailed last year.

Mr Gongadze’s decapitated body was found in a forest in September 2000.

He had been beaten and strangled, his body doused in petrol and burned.

Prosecutors allege that Mr Pukach – who was detained near the capital, Kiev – organised the abduction and personally strangled Mr Gongadze.

Three others were jailed for the murder last year. Mykola Protasov was given a sentence of 13 years, while Valeriy Kostenko and Oleksandr Popovych were each handed 12-year terms.

But Mr Gongadze’s family has always claimed someone more senior was behind the killing.

The investigative journalist had exposed high-profile corruption.

Secret tape recordings released at the time – allegedly implicating the then-President, Leonid Kuchma – caused a political scandal, and led to widespread street protests.</p

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