www.ukrweekly.com Published by the Ukrainian national Association inc.. a fraternal non-profit associatioi rainian Weekly vol. LIII No. 34 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, AUGUST 25,1985 25 cents Marchenko denied Christian funeral Helsinki monitor Petro Sichko FRAM1NGHAM, Mass. - valeriy according to Keston News Service. Marchenko, the Ukrainian human- in his testament. Mr. Marchenko. a rear rested on unknown charges rights activist who died of kidney failure Catholic, had requested a Christian MUN1CH - Petro Sichko, a mem– at age 37 on October 6. 1984. was denied funeral. His body was returned in a zinc bcr of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group a Christian burial bv Soviet authorities. coffin to Kiev from the Leningrad and a veteran political prisoner, has hospital where he died. Mr. Mar– apparently been rearrested. according chenko's mother had made funeral to the most recent issue of USSR News arrangements with a priest in the Brief published here. Ukrainian capital, but under pres– The charges against him are not sure from the authorities the priest known. reneged on his promise. Mr. Sichko was to have been released Another priest began a funeral service on May 26 upon completing a three- in a'different church in Kiev, but the year term for "slandering the Soviet authorities presented him from com– state." That term had been tacked on by pleting it. After lying in the church for Soviet authorities to a three-year term two days, the coffin was taken to the Mr. Sichko was already serving, also for cemetery, it was escorted by 15 persons, slander. five of them close friends and relatives, The 59-year-old engineer and ccono– the others unknown. mist is a former officer of the Ukrai– Mr. Marchenko died from a kidney nian insurgent Army, in 1947 he was illness aggravated by mistreatment and arrested for allegedly attempting to refusal of proper medical care by organize a society for the liberation of authorities in the labor camp where he Ukraine. He was sentenced to death, ..1 ':^^^Ffelrp Sichko .was serving a 10-year term for "anti- but this was commuted to25years'hard- Soviet agitation and propaganda." This labor. He was released in 1957 under a was to be followed by five years of general amnesty. The elder Sichko was rearrested in a internal exile. Mr. Sichko was persecuted by the labor camp on May 26. 1982. and Mr. Marchenko. a prominent activist KGB for refusing to renounce his sentenced to an additional three years in in the human-rights movement and a convictions. Beginning in 1975 ihe KGB a strict-regimen camp. He is an invalid journalist and philologist, had been ill tried t'o blackmail him into working as and suffers from tuberculosis. for some time. His trial had to be an informer, in exchange for his co- vasyl -Sichko. a journalist and sin- postponed at least once because of his operation, his son vasyl was to be dent, was also rearrested while serving poor health, and Mr. Marchenko was allowed to complete his university, the term for slander. On December І 1. reportedly unable to stand through studies. Mr. Sichko refused to co- 1981. he was arrested on trumped-up most of the proceedings. operate and in late 1977 applied for an narcotics charges and sentenced to Upon being sentenced on March 14. exii visa and renounced his Soviet another three years'strict-regimen 1984. Mr. Marchenko reportedly told citizenship. camp. He was due to be released in July. the judge, "You will be guilty of my He joined the Ukrainian Helsinki Petro Sichko is married to Stefania death. Citizen Judge." Group with his son, vasyl. now 28. in Petrash Sichko. His younger son. Amnesty international and other 1978. Both were arrested on July 5. v'olodymyr. now 25. has also been a sources reported that Mr. Marchenko 1979. and each was sentenced to three political prisoner, having served a term (Continued on page 12) years' imprisonment for slander. in 1980-1983 on unknown charges. Edmonton's Ukrainian mayor: businessmanflawyer Laurence Decore by Mykhailo Bociurkiw churches, halls and businesses. School children have long had the option of enrolling in Ukrainian-English EDMONTON - When Edward 1. Koch announced bilingual education programs offered by the local his candidacy for New York City's mayoral race last Catholic and public school boards. month, he proudly declared that he holds the "best Mr. Decore. whose father was a well-known political job in America." politician, is the second Canadian of Ukrainian origin in chatting with Mayor Laurence G. Decore of to serve as mayor of the city of Edmonton. Between Edmonton, one is left with the distinct impression that 1951 and 1977' the late William Hawrelak, a Ukrai– the best political job in Canada belongs to the mayor nian businessman, was elected mayor of Edmonton of the city of Edmonton. That's because Mr. Decore four times. has a hard time containing his pride when he gets to Mr. Decore, 45. was born and raised in vegreville. musing about his job as the head of one of Canada's Alberta, a small town east of Edmonton which is the largest and fastest-growing municipalities. site of the annual Ukrainian Pysanka Festival and the The city of Edmonton is the capital of the resource- largest Ukrainian Easter egg; in the world. His father, rich province of Alberta and is Canada's second Mr. Justice John Decore of the Court of Queen's largest city by area. The most recent figures show Bench, was the Liberal member of Parliament for Edmonton with a population of more than 560,000. As vegreville from 1949 to 1956 and the man who home to the world famous Edmonton Oilers, the game nominated Lester B. Pearson for the Liberal Party of hockey is one of the most popular ways to pass time leadership in 1958. in a city that is battered by some of the harshest winter By his 24th birthday. Laurence Decore had earned a climates in Canada. bachelor of arts and a law degree from the University The city of Edmonton is also the home of the of Alberta. His first business venture was the second-largest Ukrainian urban community in development of a Si million-plus hotel in the Canada: in 1971. the 62,655 residents of Ukrainian mountain resorupf Jasper. Alberta. Since then, he has origin made up more than 12 percent of the total become a– successful developer of hotels, shopping population. With these numbers, the local Ukrainian malls, and residential and industrial subdivisions. He ?Bociurtm community enjoys high.visibility with its numerous (Continued он page 5) Mayor Laurence G. Decore of Edmonton THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, AUGUST 25,1985 No. 34 Refusenik sentenced to three years Analysis: the legalization dilemma NEW YORK - viadimir Brodsky. a similar harassment, including an aunt refusenik and anesthesiologist from who died in a labor camp during the of Ukrainian Catholics in USSR Moscow, was sentenced to three years Stalinist "Doctors' Plot," after she was charged with having "inoculated by Andrew Sorokowski at hard labor on a charge of "malicious hooliganism," the Coalition to Free patients with cancer." Soviet Jews– reported on August 16. Dr. Brodsky is one of a dozen Soviet On September 9. 1982. Yosyp Jewish activists arrested or sentenced in Terelia and four associates founded The trial took place on August 15 in an industrial building. Only his wife. the past eight months. Two other trials the Action Group lor the Defense of are pending. the Rights ol Believers and the Dina, was allowed inside. Church with the aim of obtaining Since he applied for permission to legalization of the banned Ukrainian emigrate in 1979, Dr. Brodsky has been Soviets seize tapes Catholic Church. Formerly known harassed, forced to resign from jobs, asthe Ukrainian Greek Catholic physically beaten and given short-term BOSTON - Soviet authorities seized Church, this branch of the Uniate prison sentences. His apartment was set television news tapes belonging to NBC Church formed by the 1596 Union of on fire in 1983. As he described in a and the British Broadcasting Corp– Brest was forcibly dissolved and recent appeal to the West, when he came oration on Friday. August 16. The incorporated in the Russian Ortho– home at that time, he saw four or five videotapes were confiscated from a dox Church at the staged Lviv Synod KGB men "leaning against the car. courier at Moscow's international air- of March 8-10. 1946. smiling." port. in 1980, Dr. Brodsky went on his first Recent information appearing in The Christian Science Monitor re- the underground Chronicle of the hunger strike to protest the govern– ment's refusal to let him emigrate. He ported that BBC correspondent Tim Catholic Church in Ukraine and Sebastian said his tape was about Soviet Ukrainian Catholic Herald indicates was then blackmailed into resigning from his job or else face charges of police work. NBC said its story was that Soviet authorities have offered about espionage by Soviet employees, to legalize the Ukrainian Catholic "stealing drugs." He found a job in another hospital, where he was accused such as clerks and cleaners, at the U.S. Church, but only as an "autoce– Embassy. phalous" church with no ties to the of malpractice resulting in the death of a patient who, in Dr. Brodsky's words, Recently Soviet authorities seized the Holy See. According to the Chro– Yosyp Terelia nicle, Mr. Terelia has refused the "was brought into the hospital in an notes, files and tape recordings of a offer. Obviously, breaking with muses Mr. Terelia, "do we really extremely poor condition, already correspondent for The Christian Science Rome would be tantamount to re– need this legalization? Under condi– dying." Monitor.