Today, on January 12, events dedicated to the Day of Ukrainian Political Prisoner are taking place in many Ukrainian cities and towns, UNN reports.
The event was established in honor of Ukrainian public and cultural figures who opposed the punitive and repressive machine of the ussr.
During the reign of Nikita Khrushchev, during the so-called "thaw," many young poets, painters, and artists, who were called "sixties" came to prominence in Ukraine. But quite quickly, these people were persecuted by the state security agencies of the ussr.
During the premiere of the film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors at the Ukraina Cinema in Kyiv on September 4, 1965, literary critic Ivan Dziuba, a graduate student in literary criticism, Vasyl Stus, and journalist Viacheslav Chornovil called from the stage, in the audience, to stand up to protest the arrests of Ukrainian intellectuals that took place in the summer of 1965. The protest letter was signed by 140 people present.
On January 12, 1972, the most massive wave of arrests of Ukrainian public figures began. It was then that all known dissidents of Ukraine were arrested: Ivan Svitlychnyi, Yevhen Sverstiuk, Vasyl Stus, Leonid Plyushch, Zynoviy Antoniuk, Ivan Dziuba, Viacheslav Chornovil, Mykhailo Osadchyi, Ivan Hel, Stefania Shabatura, and Iryna Stasiv-Kalynets.
It is believed that the idea to celebrate the Day of the Ukrainian Political Prisoner in 1975, while in a camp, was proposed by Vyacheslav Chornovil. The idea was supported by the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, established in 1976, whose members also quickly came under repression.
According to some historians, Ukrainian dissident human rights activists spent 550 years in Soviet camps, colonies, prisons, and undergoing compulsory treatment in psychiatric hospitals.
The Day of Ukrainian Political Prisoner is a tribute to people who defied the totalitarian system and did not break in the fight against it. It is also a day of support for our compatriots who are currently imprisoned in Russia for their political views.
According to official data, about 200 Ukrainian political prisoners are currently imprisoned in Russia.