Mykola Karpyuk (, Mykola Andronovych Karpyuk) is a Ukrainian political activist and former vice leader of the UNA-UNSO as well as a member of the central council of the

Right Sector Right Sector () is a loosely defined coalition of right-wing to far-right Ukrainian nationalist organizations. It originated in November 2013 as a right-wing, paramilitary confederation of several ultranationalist organizations at the Euroma ...

. In May 2016, Karpyuk was accused of participating in the

First Chechen War The First Chechen War, also referred to as the First Russo-Chechen War, was a struggle for independence waged by the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against the invading Russia, Russian Federation from 1994 to 1996. After a mutually agreed on treaty ...

and sentenced to 22.5 years in prison. Russian civil rights society

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

recognized him as a

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

Biography

Karpyuk was the chairman of the

Rivne Rivne ( ; , ) is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the Rivne Raion (district) within the oblast.

cell of the Ukrainian National Assembly. In 1992, he participated in the

Transnistria War The Transnistria War (; ) was an armed conflict that broke out on 2 November 1990 in Dubăsari between pro-Transnistria (Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, PMR) forces, including the Transnistrian Republican Guard, militia and neo-Cossack unit ...

on the side of

Transnistria Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and locally as Pridnestrovie, is a Landlocked country, landlocked Transnistria conflict#International recognition of Transnistria, breakaway state internationally recogn ...

and in the

War in Abkhazia War in Abkhazia may refer to: *War in Abkhazia (1992–1993) The War in Abkhazia was fought between Georgian government and paramilitary forces, and a coalition of Abkhaz separatist forces and North Caucasian militants between 1992 and 1993 ...

, in 1993, he fought on the side of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. He took part in the Ukrainian parliamentary elections of 1998 and 2002 for UNA-UNSO, but the party did not go to the

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...

both times. In 2001-2002, there was a split within the UNA-UNSO. At the congress in November 2001, Mykola Karpyuk was elected as the new chairman of the UNA-UNSO. In 2000-2001, he took part in the action “

Ukraine without Kuchma "Ukraine without Kuchma" (; ''Ukrayina bez Kuchmy'', Russian: Украина без Кучмы, UBK) was a mass protest campaign that took place in Ukraine in 2000–2001, demanding the resignation of President Leonid Kuchma, and preceding the ...

”, because of which he was arrested and sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. In 2004 he was released from prison. During the

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

Karpyuk joined the organization

and became a leading figure within the organization.

Arrest and detention

Karpyuk was kidnapped on the Russian-Ukrainian border in 2014 and arrested, according to his family. After his arrest, Mykola Karpyuk, along with another Ukrainian detainee in Russia, Stanislav Klykh, was charged with participation in hostilities during the

on the side of the

Chechen Republic of Ichkeria The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria ( ; ; ; abbreviated as "ChRI" or "CRI"), known simply as Ichkeria, was a ''de facto'' State (polity), state that controlled most of the former Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Checheno-Ingus ...

, attempted murder, and killings of servicemen of the armed forces of Russia in 1994-1995. The charges were based on the testimony of Alexander Malofeev, who was sentenced to 24.5 years of imprisonment, who allegedly was a member of the Viking detachment. Klykh and Karpyuk themselves denied visiting Chechnya.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

has called the trial against Karpyuk and Klykh unfair. Karpuk and Klykh were denied access to lawyers, and alleged that they were tortured while imprisoned. In 2018,

Lyudmyla Denisova Liudmyla Leontiivna Denisova (born 6 July 1960) is a Ukrainian politician. After twice serving as Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, Denisova worked as Ombudsman for Human Rights in Ukraine from March 2018 to May 2022. Ukrayinska Pravd ...

, the Commissioner for Human Rights in Ukraine, was denied visiting access to Karpyuk and fellow political prisoner

Oleg Sentsov Oleh Hennadiiovych SentsovNosorih (Rhino)
labiennale.org ...

Released with swap

Mykola Karpyuk was released with swap between Russia and Ukraine, 35 prisoners to 35, on September 7, 2019. When the plane with 35 freed Ukrainians landed in Kyiv, they were met by president

Volodymyr Zelensky Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

and relatives.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karpyuk, Mykola 1964 births 2014 controversies People from Rivne Oblast Far-right politics in Ukraine Living people People of the Euromaidan Pro-Ukrainian people of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine Ukrainian people imprisoned in Russia Ukrainian people imprisoned abroad Ukrainian people taken hostage Ukrainian victims of human rights abuses Political prisoners according to Memorial Ukrainian nationalists