Ex-president in storm over killing
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 Ukraine's former interior minister, who was to testify in the case of a murdered journalist, apparently committed suicide.
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MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, speaking on television during a visit to the Czech Republic, has denied any involvement in the killing of a journalist and was planning to return home to Ukraine.
Kuchma later returned to Kiev, the Ukraine capital.
The victim was investigative journalist Georhiy Gongadze, who campaigned against corruption in Ukraine. He was abducted in downtown Kiev in September 2000, and his decapitated body was later found buried in a forest outside the capital.
Kuchma's remarks on Saturday came days after Ukraine's former Interior Minister, Yuri Kravchenko, was found dead at his country house, according to SBU -- the Ukrainian security service.
The SBU said a preliminary investigation suggested suicide. Kravchenko was to be questioned Friday by prosecutors in connection with the journalist's murder.
His death sparked months of protests against Kuchma. Critics implicated him in the murder, citing secretly recorded audio tapes in which the former president allegedly ordered his staff to get rid of the journalist. Kuchma vehemently denied those charges.
In the tapes, Kuchma was overheard repeatedly complaining about Gongadze's reporting and ordering Kravchenko to "drive him out, throw (him) out, give him to the Chechens."
The high-profile murder was never solved during Kuchma's presidency. Recently elected President Viktor Yushchenko has made the case a high priority and vowed to solve it.
"The investigation must be conducted in a transparent and professional manner and in full accordance with law," Yushchenko said in a written statement Friday.
On Wednesday, Ukraine's chief prosecutor said the killing of Gongadze had been solved and the killers found and arrested. However, he did not say who had ordered the killing.
Prosecutors this week said two suspects had been arrested and one ordered not to leave Kiev. A fourth is being sought. All of them were employed by Ukraine's Interior Ministry.
Opposition political forces had accused Kravchenko of being involved in Gongadze's death, The Associated Press reported.
CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty contributed to this report
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
