Yuriy Tymonovych Lytvyn () was a Ukrainian lyrical and prose writer, journalist,

human rights activist A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

, and

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 ...

Biography

Lytvyn was born in a village of Ksaverivka,

Vasylkiv Raion Vasylkiv Raion () was a raion (district) in Kyiv Oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center was Vasylkiv which is incorporated separately as a town of oblast significance and did not belong to the raion. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 ...

on 26 November 1934 in a family of rural teachers. His dad a veteran of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, after the Nazi Germany's occupation of Ukraine, served in the

Soviet partisan Soviet partisans were members of resistance movements that fought a guerrilla war against Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Soviet-occupied territories of interwar Poland in 1941–45 and eastern Finland. The ac ...

detachments of

Sydir Kovpak Sydir Artemovych Kovpak (; ), (June 7, 1887December 11, 1967) led Soviet partisans in Ukraine from 1941 to 1944 during the Axis-Soviet War phase of World War II. Biography Kovpak was born to a poor Ukrainian peasant family in Kotelva vi ...

and died from wounds in 1944. Later Lytvyn with his mother moved to village Barakhty,

. After finishing a seven-year school, he enrolled in mining-industrial school in

Shakhty Shakhty ( rus, Шахты, p=ˈʂaxtɨ) is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the southeastern spur of the Donetsk mountain ridge, northeast of Rostov-on-Don. As of th2023 Census its population was 222,500. It was previously known ...

(now in

Rostov Oblast Rostov Oblast ( rus, Росто́вская о́бласть, r=Rostovskaya oblastʹ, p=rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast ...

), but after getting sick he left the school and returned on his village. In 1953 Lytvyn was imprisoned at the construction of

Zhiguli Hydroelectric Station The Zhiguli Hydroelectric Station or Zhigulyovskaya Hydroelectric Station (), formerly known as Kuybyshev Hydroelectric Station (Kuybyshev GES) is a large dam and hydroelectric station on the Volga River, located near Zhigulyovsk and Tolyatti ...

(at that time Kuibyshev Hydroelectric Station) after being accused of theft. Soon after being released in 1955 he was arrested again on 14 April 1956 being accused in created of underground nationalistic organization "Group for Liberation of Ukraine" and convicted to 10 years imprisonment. His punishment Lytvyn served in camps of

Medyn Medyn () is a town and the administrative center of Medynsky District in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Medynka River ( Oka basin), northwest of Kaluga, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: History It was first mentione ...

(

Kaluga Oblast Kaluga Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Kaluga. The Russian Census (2021), 2021 Russian Census found a population o ...

) and Vikhorevka (part of

Ozerlag Ozerlag (Озерлаг) was an MVD special camp (''osoblag No. 7'', ''osoby lager No. 7'') in the Soviet GULAG labor camp system for political prisoners. It was established in 1948 near Tayshet and included a chain of camp sites (''lagernye punkty' ...

) as well as the so-called "Mordva camps for politicals" (

Dubravlag The Dubravny Camp, Special Camp No.3 (), commonly known as the Dubravlag (), was a Gulag labor camp of the Soviet Union located in Yavas, Mordovia from 1948 to 2005. The Dubravlag was founded as one of several Gulag special camps in the Mordov ...

). While being imprisoned Lytvyn wrote poems in Ukrainian and Russian languages and in 1965 finished his collection "Tragic gallery" () (a story about crimes of totalitarian system against Ukrainian people). Shortly all poems were taken away from him during a search. After being released in June 1965 Lytvyn was forced to move to

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...

due to prosecution. On 14 November 1974 he was arrested again and convicted by article 187-1 of the Criminal Code of the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

(Slanderous fabrications that discredit the Soviet state and social system). In November 1977, Lytvyn, after just being freed from prison, became 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 ...

to facilitate the implementation of

Helsinki Accords The Helsinki Final Act, also known as Helsinki Accords or Helsinki Declaration, was the document signed at the closing meeting of the third phase of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland, betwee ...

and continued his struggle against the totalitarian regime in Ukraine. In April 1979 he finished his article "Human rights movement in Ukraine. Its principles and perspectives" (), in which he created the political program of Ukrainian human rights movement. On 5 July 1979 while being seriously ill, Lytvyn was arrested again and accused in conducting "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda". He was convicted by a court in

Vasylkiv Vasylkiv (, , ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city on the Stuhna, Stuhna River in Obukhiv Raion, Kyiv Oblast, central Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Vasylkiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. First mentioned in the 10th ce ...

to 10 years imprisonment and 5 years of exile. From May 1982 he was serving his sentence in camps of strict regime (

Perm Oblast Until 1 December 2005, Perm Oblast () was a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) in Privolzhsky (Volga) Federal District. According to the results of the referendum held in October 2004, Perm Oblast was merged with Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug ...

, villages Kuchino, Polovinka, Vsesviatskoe) where was the majority of participants of Ukrainian human rights movement. The later influential (in

Ukrainian politics The politics of Ukraine take place in a framework of a Semi-presidential system, semi-presidential republic and a multi-party system. A Government of Ukraine, Cabinet of Ministers exercises executive power (jointly with the President of Ukraine ...

)

Viktor Medvedchuk Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk (; born 7 August 1954), also known as Viktor Vladimirovich Medvedchuk (), is a former Ukrainian lawyer, business oligarch, and politician who has lived in exile in Russia since September 2022 after being handed ...

defended Stus during this trial. Lytvyn described the work of Medvedchuk as a lawyer on 17 December 1979: “The passivity of my lawyer Medvedchuk in defense is not due to his professional profanity, but to the instructions he received from above and his subordination: he does not dare to reveal the mechanism implemented provocations against me." According to official court papers Medvedchuk had referred to the incompleteness of the investigation in the case and had asked to cancel the court's verdict and send the case for a new trial. On 24 August 1984 Yuriy Lytvyn was found in his cell with his stomach cut open. On 21 August the camp docter refused to treat him. On 5 September 1984 he died in a hospital of the city of

Chusovoy Chusovoy (; : ) is a town in Perm Krai, Russia, located at the confluence of the Usva and Vilva Rivers with the Chusovaya River, east of Perm, the administrative center of the krai. Population: History It was founded in 1878 during the c ...

, Perm Oblast.Medvedchuk's role: Yuriy Lytvyn and Vasyl Stus had one lawyer and died in the same camp

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...

(9 July 2020) In November 1989 remnants of Yuriy Lytvyn,

Vasyl Stus Vasyl Semenovych Stus (; January 6, 1938 – September 4, 1985) was a Ukrainian poet, translator, literary critic, journalist, and an active member of the Ukrainian dissident movement. For his political convictions, his works were banned by th ...

, and Oleksiy Tykhyi was transported to Kyiv and buried with honors at

Baikove Cemetery Baikove Cemetery () is a historic cemetery memorial in Holosiivskyi District of Kyiv, Ukraine. It is a National Historic Monument of Ukraine and is known as a necropolis of distinguished people. History The cemetery was established in 1833 a ...

(lot #33).

References

External links

Lytvyn, Yurii
Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine * Bazhan, O.
Yuriy Lytvyn
'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. Vol.10.

Institute of History of Ukraine Institute of History of Ukraine is a research institute in Ukraine that is part of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine department of history, philosophy and law and studies a wide spectrum of problems in history of Ukraine. The institute ...

. "

Naukova dumka Naukova Dumka ( — literally "scientific thought") is a publishing house in Kyiv, Ukraine. It was established by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 1922, largely owing to the efforts of Ahatanhel Krymsky, a prominent Ukrainian ling ...

". Kiev, 2009. * Ovsiyenko, V.
Yuriy Lytvyn
'. Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine.

Oleksa Tykhyi Fund website. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lytvyn, Yuriy 1934 births 1984 deaths People from Bila Tserkva Raion Soviet dissidents Ukrainian human rights activists Soviet human rights activists Ukrainian people imprisoned in the Soviet Union Ukrainian people who died in Soviet detention Ukrainian Helsinki Group Burials at Baikove Cemetery