The Ukrainian Weekly 1985
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Published by the Ukrainian National Association inc.. a frattrnal non-profit association! rainian Weekly vol. LIII No. 37 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER IS, 1985 25 cents Deschenes Commission may extend work; Poet rights activist Stus died Ukrainian community intensifies campaign of emaciation following long illness by Mykhailo Bociurkiw Members of the Ukrainian commu– JERSEY C1TY. N..1. - nity have petitioned the Mulroney v'asyl Stus. one of the grea– JERSEY C1TY. N.J. - it now government to extend the mandate of iest contemporary Ukrai– appears unlikely thai the Canadian the commission in order to give Mr. nian poets, a longtime hu– government's Commission of inquiry Deschenes more time to conduct his man– and national-rights on war criminals will complete its 11- investigation. The community also activist and a member of the month investigation by its December 31 needs more time to organize itself and Ukrainian Helsinki Moni– deadline, and Canada's Ukrainian deal with the issue, sources say. toring Group, apparently community seems to be gearing up for a "1 think that (the fact they are) taking died as a result of general lengthy lobbying -and publicity cam– more time is desirable for us,"said John emaciation following a long paign on the war criminals issue. Gregorovich, the chairman of the history of stomach and kid– The commission, headed by Justice Ukrainian Canadian Committee's Civil ney problems, according to Jules Deschenes of the Quebec Superior Liberties Commission. the U.S. Department of Court, was established by the Mulroney "We've been fighting with time." Mr. State. administration last February and was Gregorovich said, adding that an ex- Mr. Stus was serving the scheduled to report back to the federal tended deadline is "favored" by the fifth year of a 10-year labor- government by the end of the year. CLC because it would give the commu– camp term, which was to be But a source in the commission's nity more time to organize. followed by five years' inter– Ottawa office told The Ukrainian Mr. Gregorovich's group was formed nal exile, on charges of"anti– Weekly this week that "a vast pile of by the UCC in early March in order to Soviet agitation and propa– data" waiting to be,sifted:.by.^hc.com- ' launch actions,ajgajnst "the defamation ganda." He died on Septem– mission's lawyers and researchers casts of the whole Ukrainian community" ber 4 at the age of 47. doubt on whether a report can be and to represent the UCC at the corn- The State Department's completed in the time allotted by the mission's hearings. Over the spring and statement issued onSeptem– government. Although Prime Minister summer months, the Deschenes Corn- ber 6 said that the depart– Yasyl Stus, 1938-1985. Brian Mulroney has said that it "would mission held hearings in Toronto, ment "deeply regrets the not be practical" to extend the work of Ottawa, Montreal and Winnipeg, and death of vasyl Stus, which appears to in January 1972, during the second the Deschenes Commission, the source, has received written briefs from various have occurred as a direct result of the wave of arrests of Ukrainian intellec– who requested anonymity, acknow– groups and individuals. harsh treatment he received during his tuals, Mr. Stus hirnseJf wasarxested and ledged that hearings scheduled for next So far, the CLC has been busy imprisonment." charged with "anti-Soviet agitation and month would leave little time for the attending hearings, conducting research A statement issued on September 11 propaganda." He was subsequently commission staff to write the report. (Continued on page 3) by the Commission on Security and sentenced to five years of labor camp Cooperation in Europe, the Helsinki and three years of internal exile. He Commission, called Mr. Stus "a coura– completed this sentenced in August geous and indefatigable fighter for the 1979 and, after returning to Kiev, he American, Canadian lawyers reject rights of all individuals and a victim of joined the Ukrainian Helsinki Group in the Soviet Union's pernicious and the fall. He was arrested for the second Soviet evidence as unreliable brutal system for the suppression of time on May 14, 1980, and sentenced - human rights,"and said that "the KGB once again for "anti-Soviet agitation WASHINGTON - The 250- a joint resolutions committee, chair– is responsible for his death." and propaganda" - to 10 years'camp membcr Ukrainian American Bar ed by lhor G. Rakowsky of the (The full texts of both statements and five years'exile. His sentence would Association and the Ukrainian Ad– UABA, was elected and charged with appear on page 3.) have been completed in May 1995. vocates'Society of Canada, a section drafting a statement addressing the Mr. Stus was born January 8,1938. A in the last of his writings to reach the of the Ukrainian Professional and і issue of Soviet-supplied evidence. poet and literary critic, his poems and West, Mr. Stus wrote that he feared he Business Club of Toronto, have The joint convention held in To– literary reviews were frequently pub– was dying and did not know how much adopted a joint resolution concern– ronto was convened by UABA presi– lished in Soviet periodicals until 1965, longer he could hold on to life. Much of ing the use of Soviet-supplied evi– dent Bohdan Futey and the chairman when he was expelled from the Taras Mr. Stus's stomach had been removed dcnce by U.S. and Canadian authori– of the Ukrainian lawyers section of Shevchenko institute of Literature. in operations for ulcers, and he suffered ties in proceedings against their the Toronto Ps and Bs, John Grego– Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian from various kidney ailments as well as citizens. rovich. The convention was planned SSR. for publicly protesting the 1965 (Continued on page 3) The resolution, which took several by a special committee whose coordi– arrests of Ukrainian intellectuals. months to draft, concluded that nator was W. George Danyliw of "Soviet-supplied evidence is inhe– Toronto. Participants discussed va– His poetry was first published in vently unreliable and untrustworthy" nous endeavors ot American шш 1959, and his first major work appeared 1NS1DE: and that "such Soviet evidence should Canadian lawyers in regard to Ukrai– in the Dnipro journal in 1963. Ш Roman Solchanyk on Yuriy Shu– be declared inadmissible in our nian community concerns, and de- Mr. Stus signed a collective open khevych's "recantation" — page 2. courts." voted much attention to the activities letter protesting the secret trials of 1966 Ш Kiev church destroyed during The resolution also expressed of the U.S. Justice Department's and the trial of journalist vyacheslav restoration — page 2. strong support for "Congressional Office of Special investigations and Chornovil. who documented these trials Ш Statements on Stus's death — oversight hearings into the activities Canada's Commission of inquiry on of Ukrainian intellectuals. page 3. of theOSl"(Office of Special investi– war criminals, known as the Dc– in 1968 Mr. Stus wrote an open letter Ш Dr. Walter Dushnyck: an obituary gations). schenes Commission. to the Writers' Union of Ukraine, - page 4. Copies of the resolution have been Soviet-supplied evidence is being protesting against the slanderous at– Ш Canadian students' brief to the sent by the American and Canadian used by the OSl ana it may be used in tacks on Mr. Chornovil and Sviatoslav Deschenes Commission — page 5. lawyers to their governments. the future by Canadian authorities. Karavansky in the union's official И Dr. Myron Kuropas: vietnam Work on the resolution was begun This issue is presently being consi– organ, in 1969 he wrote an open letter revisited — page 6. at the May 31-June 2 joint convcn– dered by the Deschenes Commission. defending ban Dzyuba against attach Ш vasyl Stus: the life and death of a tion of the UABA and the Canadian The lawyers' resolution went in the official press, in 1970 he read a poet, by Marco Corynnyk — page 7. lawyers who are members of the through several dratts and the final poem ne nad written anu ucuicated to Ш Ukrainians in Texas, Plast sports Toronto Ps and Bs. At that meeting. vl'ontinued on page 16i murdered artist Alia Horska at her camp — centerfold. public funeral. THE UKRAINIAN WEEKL SUNDAY, OLH EMBER IS, 1985 No. 37 A GLIMPSE OF SOVIET REALITY Kiev church destroyed in restoration ' Yuriy Shukhevych's "recantation": —mere-evidence it was forged by Roman Solchanyk apparent reason other than the tact that his father was the leader of the Ukrai– The Kiev weekly News from Ukraine, nian armed anti-Soviet resistance. Mr. which is published for Ukrainians inthe Shukhevych was released in 1956 by West, carried an article in July alleging order of a viadimir court, which ruled that Yuriy Shukhevych. one of the best- that he had been illegally arrested as a known Ukrainian prisoners of con- minor. Nonetheless, he was forced to science had recanted. Mr. Shukhevych serve out his term after the intervention is the son of the wartime commander of ol then LSSR Procurator General the Ukrainian insurgent Army(UPA), Roman Rudenko. Roman Shukhevych– 1 aras Chuprynk'a, When he was at last released, on who was killed in action against Soviet August 21. 1958. he was immediately security forces in 1950. rearrested on fabricated charges of One of the longstanding aims of the "anti-Soviet agnation and propaganda" Soviet authorities has been to force a and sentenced to another 10-year term, statement from Mr. Shukhevych re– in Marcfr 1972 came the third arrest and St. Nicholas Prytysko Church before (above) and after (below) restoration.