The Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, addressed the country's citizens on the occasion of the Day of Ukrainian Political Prisoners, celebrated on January 12. He remembered all those who were imprisoned for their love of Ukraine, for the right to think and speak freely – some died in captivity during the tsarist, Soviet, and modern Russian regimes. This was reported by UNN with reference to Budanov's post on Telegram.
Details
As Budanov noted, repression was an instrument of suppressing freedom for the Kremlin – from the imprisonment of Taras Shevchenko by the Russian Empire to Soviet camps for the Ukrainian intelligentsia. A similar practice continues in the territories of Ukraine occupied by Russian troops.
The names of regimes change. The method does not change – prison as an instrument of Moscow's policy. Ukrainian political prisoners are persecuted not for crimes. They are punished for their identity. For the Ukrainian language. For refusing to accept the occupation. For loyalty to their state. Alongside them are thousands of prisoners of war and civilian captives. They are held in inhumane conditions, deprived of contact with their families, abused and tortured. This is part of the same system of fear that Moscow has been using against Ukrainians for centuries
Budanov emphasized that Ukraine thinks not only about those behind bars, but also about their families – mothers, wives, children, who are waiting and believing.
We remember every Ukrainian political prisoner. We fight for every prisoner of war. And we will do everything to bring them home. Because freedom cannot be imprisoned
Recall
On January 12, Ukraine celebrates the Day of Ukrainian Political Prisoners. The tradition was introduced in 1975 in the Mordovian camps on the initiative of Viacheslav Chornovil.