Yaroslav Vasylyovych Lesiv ( uk, Яросла́в Васи́льович Ле́сів, 3 January 1945, Luzhki,

Dolyna Raion Dolyna Raion ( uk, Доли́нський райо́н, translit=Dolynśkyi rajon) was a raion (administrative district) of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast of Ukraine. The city of Dolyna was the administrative center of the raion. The raion was abolished ...

– 10 October 1991,

Bolekhiv Bolekhiv ( uk, Болехів, translit=Bolechiw; pl, Bolechów; yi, באָלעכאָוו) is a regional city in Kalush Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (province) of Ukraine. It was once home to a large Jewish community, very few of whom s ...

) was a Ukrainian

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

, and member of the

Ukrainian Helsinki Group The Ukrainian Helsinki Group ( uk, Українська Гельсінська Група) was founded on November 9, 1976, as the "Ukrainian Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords on Human Rights" ( uk, Українс ...

. Yaroslav Lesiv was born in the village of Luzhkiv, (Ukrainian Лужків), in

Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вська о́бласть, translit=Ivano-Frankivska oblast), also referred to as Ivano-Frankivshchyna ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukrain ...

Western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine ( uk, Західна Україна, Zakhidna Ukraina or , ) is the territory of Ukraine linked to the former Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austria ...

. He became a teacher of physical education at a secondary school. In 1965, he joined the Ukrainian National Front, an underground organization working for Ukrainian independence from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. On 29 March 1965, his membership in this organization was discovered. He and other members of the UNF were put on trial in 1967 and convicted of Treason (Article 56 = 64 RSFSR) and of organising an underground organisation (Article 64 = 72 RSFSR). Lesiv and the other four ringleaders were sentenced to 6 years in a corrective-labour camp. He was sent to Camp 19 for political prisoners in Mordovia (Dubrovlag) but transferred three years later to

Vladimir Prison Vladimir Prison, popularly known as Vladimir Central (russian: Владимирский централ), is a prison in Vladimir, Russia. It is the largest prison in Russia, with a capacity of 1220 detainees, and is operated by the Federal Penite ...

to be kept under a punishment regime. There in December 1970 he took part in a mass hunger strike with other political prisoners. Lesiv was released in 1973. Early on 3 October 1977 Lesiv joined the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. Two years later he was arrested and accused of being in possession of drugs. On 6 February 1980, he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and sent to a corrective-labour colony in Ukraine. Just before his release was due, Lesiv was again sentenced for possession of drugs and this time given a further five years' imprisonment. He was then serving his sentence in a camp near Lvov and working as a loader."In the camps and prisons: the trial of Yaroslav Lesiv"
''Chronicle of Current Events'', 63.16 (31 December 1981).

Religious life

Yaroslav Lesiv was active in the

Ukrainian Catholic Church Ukrainian Catholic Church may refer to: * Latin Church in Ukraine * Greek Catholic Churches (Eastern Catholic communities of the Byzantine Rite, centered in Ukraine, in communion with the Church of Rome) **Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church **Ukraini ...

. From the late 1980s, Lesiv was working towards the restoration of the Ukrainian Catholic church. In 1988, Lesiv was ordained as a priest in the Ukrainian Catholic Rite. In 1989, Lesiv visited Moscow twice - including a hunger strike protesting the illegal status of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. On the night of 9-10 October 1991, Yaroslav Lesiv was killed in an automobile accident. He is buried in

, Ukraine.

References

BiographyAmateur website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lesiv, Yaroslav 1945 births 1991 deaths Eastern Catholic poets People from Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Ukrainian poets Soviet dissidents Ukrainian dissidents Soviet human rights activists Ukrainian Helsinki Group Members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Road incident deaths in the Soviet Union