Yuriy Tymonovych Lytvyn ( uk, Юрій Тимонович Литвин) was a Ukrainian lyrical and prose writer, journalist,
human rights activist, and
Soviet dissident.
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 ...
on 26 November 1934 in a family of rural teachers.
His dad a veteran of the
World War II, after the Nazi Germany's occupation of Ukraine, served in the
Soviet partisan detachments of
Sydir Kovpak and died from wounds in 1944.
Later Lytvyn with his mother moved to village Barakhty,
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 ...
. After finishing a seven-year school, he enrolled in mining-industrial school in
Shakhty (now in
Rostov Oblast
Rostov Oblast ( rus, Росто́вская о́бласть, r=Rostovskaya oblast, p=rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast has an area of and a populati ...
), 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 (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 (
Kaluga Oblast) and
Vikhorevka
Vikhorevka ( rus, Вихоревка, p=ˈvʲixərʲɪfkə) is a town in Bratsky District of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Vikhorevka River ( Angara River's tributary), northwest of Irkutsk, the administrative cent ...
(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 Taishet and included a chain of camp sites (''lagernye punkty' ...
) as well as the so-called "Mordva camps for politicals" (
Dubravlag).
While being imprisoned Lytvyn wrote poems in Ukrainian and Russian languages and in 1965 finished his collection "Tragic gallery" (russian: «Трагическая галерея») (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 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 (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 to facilitate the implementation of
Helsinki Accords 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" ( uk, «Правозахисний рух в Україні. Його засади і перспективи»), 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 to 10 years imprisonment and 5 years of exile.
From May 1982 he was serving his sentence in camps of strict regime (
Perm Oblast, villages Kuchino, Polovinka, Vsesviatskoe) where was the majority of participants of Ukrainian human rights movement.
The later influential (in
Ukrainian politics)
Viktor Medvedchuk 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, Perm Oblast.
[Medvedchuk's role: Yuriy Lytvyn and Vasyl Stus had one lawyer and died in the same camp]
Ukrayinska Pravda (9 July 2020)
In November 1989 remnants of Yuriy Lytvyn,
Vasyl Stus, and
Oleksiy Tykhyi Oleksii, Oleksiy or OleksiĭALA-LC romanization of Ukrainian. ( uk, Олексі́й, Oleksij ) is a Ukrainian male name of Ancient Greek origin.
Some people with the given name Oleksiy
* Oleksiy Antonov (born 1986), Ukrainian football forward ...
was transported to Kyiv and buried with honors at
Baikove Cemetery (lot #33).
References
External links
Lytvyn, YuriiInternet Encyclopedia of Ukraine
* Bazhan, O.
Yuriy Lytvyn'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. Vol.10.
Institute of History of Ukraine. "
Naukova dumka". Kiev, 2009.
* Ovsiyenko, V.
Yuriy Lytvyn'. Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine.
Oleksa Tykhyi Fund website.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lytvyn, Yuriy
1934 births
1984 deaths
People from Kyiv Oblast
Soviet dissidents
Ukrainian human rights activists
Soviet human rights activists
Prisoners and detainees of the Soviet Union
Ukrainian people who died in Soviet detention
Ukrainian Helsinki Group
Burials at Baikove Cemetery