Yanukovych ally Peklushenko in new Ukraine mystery death

A former regional governor has been found dead in Ukraine, the latest in a series of deaths involving allies of deposed President Viktor Yanukovich.

Oleksandr Peklushenko, former head of Zaporozhie, had suffered a gunshot wound to the neck and authorities said initial inquiries pointed to suicide.

A member of Ukraine’s Party of the Regions, he was being investigated over the dispersal of protesters last year.

Five other officials also died in mysterious circumstances this year.

All of them supposedly took their own lives in the past six weeks

Stanislav Melnyk, 53, an ex-MP was found shot dead in his bathroom on 9 March
Mykhaylo Chechetov, former party deputy chairman, died after apparently jumping from a window in his 17th-floor flat on 28 February; he had been accused of abuse of office and fraud.

Sergey Valter, a mayor in the south-eastern city of Melitopol, was found hanged on 25 February; he too had been accused of abuse of office
Oleksandr Bordyuh, a former police deputy chief in Melitopol linked to Mr Valter, was found dead at his home on 26 February
Oleksiy Kolesnyk, ex-head of Kharkiv’s regional government was found hanged on 29 January.

An interior ministry source told Interfax Ukraine news agency Mr Peklushenko, 60, had committed suicide in the village of Sonyachne, near Zaporozhie city.

However, officials said other theories were being investigated including murder.