Mykola Andriyovych Horbal (; born 10 September 1940) is a Ukrainian former

Soviet dissident Soviet dissidents were people who disagreed with certain features of Soviet ideology or with its entirety and who were willing to speak out against them. The term ''dissident'' was used in the Soviet Union (USSR) in the period from the mid-1960s ...

, human right activist, politician, and poet who was a member of the

Ukrainian Helsinki Group The Ukrainian Helsinki Group () was founded on November 9, 1976, as the Ukrainian Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords on Human Rights () to monitor human rights in Ukraine. The group was active until 1981 when all ...

and later a

People's Deputy of Ukraine A people's deputy of Ukraine (, ) is a member of parliament and legislator elected by Direct election, popular vote to the Verkhovna Rada, the parliament of Ukraine. They are often referred to simply as "deputies". Prior to 1991, the Verkhovna R ...

Early life

Mykola Horbal was born on 10 September 1940, in the village of Wołowiec in the Lemkivshchyna region, then administered as part of the

General Government The General Government (, ; ; ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovakia and the Soviet ...

(German-occupied Poland), now in

Gorlice County __NOTOC__ Gorlice County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Slovak border. It was created on 1 January 1999 as a result of the Polish local government refo ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. In 1947, his family was moved to Ukraine, and they settled in the village of Letyache (

Ternopil Oblast Ternopil Oblast (), also referred to as Ternopilshchyna () or Ternopillia (), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its Capital (political), administrative center is Ternopil, through which flows the Seret (river), Seret, a tribu ...

). From 1963 to 1970, Horbal worked as a music teacher. During this period, he first started creating poetry.

Imprisonment

On 24 November 1970, Horbal was arrested by the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

and charged with Anti Soviet Agitation and Propaganda. He was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and 2 years exile in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. On release from prison and return to Ukraine, Horbal settled in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, where he joined the

which had formed in 1976. All of the members of the group were arrested, and on October 23, 1979, Horbal was arrested and sentenced to 5 years hard labour. In 1984, having completed the 5-year term, Horbal was not released from incarceration, but was immediately sentenced to another term of 8 years of hard labour and 3 years in exile. However, this sentence was terminated in 1988 during

Perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...

Political career

Upon release, Horbal immediately became active in Ukrainian politics. He served as a representative to the

Kyiv City Council Kyiv City Council (, ), also known as Kyivrada (), is the city council of Kyiv municipality, the highest representative body of the city community. The members of city council are directly elected by Kyivans and the council is chaired by the M ...

from 1990 to 1994. Horbal has served as a

from 1994 until 1998.Electoral History of Mykola Andriyovych Horbal

Chesno Chesno () is a Ukrainian public campaign that emerged late 2011 to advance a fair election process. It is widely known for its critical analysis and evaluation of politicians and the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) in Ukraine. The organization provi ...

(Retrieved 16 April 2024) In the

1994 Ukrainian parliamentary election The year 1994 was designated as the "International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Charter, Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 ...

he was elected as an

independent candidate An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...

. He tried to regain his seat in the

1998 Ukrainian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 29 March 1998.Dieter Nohlen, Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1976 The Communist Party of Ukraine remained the largest party in the Verkhovna Rada, winning ...

as a candidate of the Republican Christian Party, but failed to do so. The Republican Christian Party itself gained 0.54% of the total vote and no seats.

Publications

Horbal's works were first published outside of Ukraine. The first collection of his work was published in the United States in 1983. His first collection was entitled "Details of a Noisy Alarmclock" (), and the second publication was of poetry for children, a collection entitled "A Song for Little Andrew" (). In 1986, a collection of his poetry was translated into German, and published in the collection "Here the End is Awaited" (). In 1992, Horbal was awarded the prestigious

Vasyl Stus Prize The Vasyl Stus Prize (), given since January 1989, is the first non-governmental prize awarded for "talent and courage" and being worthy of the memory of Vasyl Stus. The prize was set up by the Ukrainian Association of the Independent Creative Int ...

for poetry.

State awards

* (2009) * Order for Courage 1st class (November 8, 2006). * Order of Merit 3rd class (November 25, 2005).Decree of the President of Ukraine from 26 листопада 2005 year № 1653/200
«Про відзначення державними нагородами України колишніх політичних в'язнів і репресованих»

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horbal, Mykola 1940 births Living people People from Gorlice County Lemkos Second convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Soviet dissidents Soviet human rights activists Ukrainian dissidents Ukrainian human rights activists Ukrainian Helsinki Group Chevaliers of the Order of Merit (Ukraine) Recipients of the Vasyl Stus Prize Recipients of the Order of Liberty (Ukraine)