MOSCOW , Russia ( CNN ) -- A Ukrainian general has been arrested in connection with the murder of a journalist nearly nine years ago , the country 's president said Wednesday . Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko has labeled Georhiy Gongadze 's killing the country 's most important case . Gen. Alexei Pukach was detained Tuesday in connection with the killing of Georhiy Gongadze , who was abducted in September 2000 and later found decapitated . The Gongadze killing is the country 's most important criminal case , President Viktor Yushchenko said in a statement on his Web site . `` To me , it 's a question of honor to resolve the murder of Georhiy Gongadze . It 's a question of whether or not good or evil prevails , '' Yushchenko said . Organizations ranging from the European Union to the Committee to Protect Journalists have demanded that Ukraine bring the journalist 's killers to justice . Pukach had been on the run for years before he was seized Tuesday in a joint operation by the Security Service and the prosecutor general 's office , Yushchenko said . He has already been interrogated once and is cooperating with the investigation , the president added . The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the arrest , it said in a statement to CNN . `` As the suspected organizer of the killing , Pukach could point the investigation to those who ordered the crime nine years ago , '' said Nina Ognianova , the organization 's Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator . `` Only with the masterminds behind bars would Ukrainian authorities be able to reverse the impunity in Gongadze 's assassination , '' her statement said . Three former police officers were convicted last year of killing Gongadze and given jail sentences of 12 to 13 years , the Committee to Protect Journalists said at the time . There has long been suspicion that top Ukrainian government officials were involved in the murder . `` Gongadze , the pioneer editor of critical Internet newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda ( Ukrainian Truth ) , had long angered authorities with his highly critical reports detailing corruption in ( former President Leonid ) Kuchma 's administration , '' CPJ said last year , when the three men were sentenced . Kuchma has long denied involvement in the killing . Pukach was a high-ranking interior ministry official at the time Gongadze disappeared . His former boss , Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko , was found dead at his country house in March 2005 , days before he was to be questioned by prosecutors over the killing of the journalist . The Ukrainian security service , the SBU , suggested Kravchenko killed himself , and the dead man 's successor quoted a suicide note , according to Russian media . `` Please forgive me , I 've become a victim of political intrigues of President Kuchma and his people . I 'm leaving you without a twinge of conscience . Farewell , '' then-Interior Minister Yuli Luzenko quoted the note as saying . But Myroslava Gongadze , the slain journalist 's widow , noted Kravchenko had two bullets in his head . `` I think it has to be investigated , '' she said of the death . `` He was the main player of my husband 's murder ... he was the person who [ took ] the order and who gave the order , '' she told CNN at the time of Kravchenko 's death . Kuchma had been implicated in the murder by critics who cited secretly recorded audio tapes in which the president allegedly ordered his staff to get rid of the journalist . Kuchma vehemently denied those charges .
Ukrainian general arrested in connection with murder of journalist . Alexei Pukach abducted in Tuesday and later found decapitated . Gen. Georhiy Gongadze , who has been on the run for Tuesday , was captured years .