Ukraine today bid farewell to Nadiya Svitlychna
The funeral service was held today for Nadiya Svitlychna in Kyiv’s Volodymyrsky [St. Volodymyr] Cathedral.
Four coaches brought representatives of the Diaspora who came to pay tribute to “Nadiyka”, together with friends in Ukraine, those who shared her views, current State Deputies.
President Viktor Yushchenko returned to Kyiv from the Crimea specially to attend the funeral of the renowned defender of human rights.
“Nadiya Svitlychna’s stand in life, her views have left their trace in millions of hearts. … On behalf of Ukrainian citizens, I would express condolences to her family, friends, and to the entire Ukrainian people”, the President said.
Laureate of the Vasyl Stus Award and the Taras Shevchenko State Prize, Nadiya Svitlychna will be remembered by all listeners of the Ukrainian Service of Radio Svoboda [Radio Liberty] for the profound depth of her Ukrainian programs about human lives, about Ukraine, and its bitter struggle to freedom.
Nadiya Svitlychna was sentenced in 1973 to four years labour camp which she served in the Mordovian political labour camps.
After leaving the USSR she was an active member of the External Representation of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group and the editor of “Visnyk represiy v Ukraini” [“Bulletin of repression in Ukraine”]. She worked also for the Ukrainian Service of Radio Svoboda in New York from 1983-1994.
Nadiyka Svitlychna was born on 8 November 1936 in the village of Polovynkyno, the Starobilsk district of the Luhansk region.
She was laid to rest next to her brother, Ivan Svitlychny, in Baikove Cemetery.
Tributes can be found at:
and a biography at http://khpg.org/1135894672