It caused barely a ripple outside Ukraine, but the case against the alleged killers of journalist Georgiy Gongadze has just been sent to the country's Supreme Court.
It caused barely a ripple outside Ukraine, but the case against the alleged killers of journalist Georgiy Gongadze has just been sent to the country's Supreme Court. The decapitation of the young reporter in 2000 is seen as a slow-burning flame that grew with others into the conflagration of last year's Orange Revolution. But the glacial progress of the murder inquiry encapsulates both the ills of Ukraine's ancien regime, and the disillusionment of many people who helped topple it.
Not long after the orange-clad supporters left Kiev's Independence Square, cracks appeared in the team that led them to victory over a Moscow-backed clan that used its power to rig elections. For the faithful, the toughest "orange divorce" was that of Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, whose high cheekbones and traditional blonde plait became as emblematic of the new Ukraine as the poison-ravaged features of her president.
As the economy slumped, in-fighting in the revolutionary ranks burst into the open when the president's chief-of-staff quit and accused his inner circle of being more corrupt than the ousted cronies of former president Leonid Kuchma. Mr Yushchenko's sacking of Ms Tymoshenko prompted old allies to brand him a traitor to the revolution, and the heckling grew when he struck a deal with Viktor Yanukovich - his arch enemy of last year - to ensure the appointment of her replacement. The president also agreed not to prosecute pro-Yanukovich officials who helped rig the elections that triggered the revolution. Now, with the two figureheads of the revolution likely to split the pro-reform vote in parliamentary elections next spring, polls put Mr Yanukovich in the lead.
Optimists say all this is reminiscent of early 1990s Poland, where the triumphant Solidarity team that ousted the communists splintered into a dozen angry shards, but which is now a vibrant member of the EU and Nato. Others see a stronger resemblance in another Ukrainian neighbour, Romania, where it took 15 largely stagnant years to clear a corrupt clique from power.
Two former policemen are expected to stand trial for the murder of Mr Gongadze, one of the most tenacious critics of Mr Kuchma. He denies ordering the killing, and many Ukrainians believe Mr Yushchenko has granted him immunity from prosecution. Mr Kuchma's former interior minister and an ex-police general have been accused of planning the murder: the minister was shot dead in March, hours before he faced questioning about the case, while the police chief has disappeared. For Mr Gongadze's relatives, as for many other Ukrainians, the Orange Revolution has many questions left to answer.