On this day in 1999, Vyacheslav Chornovil, a great Ukrainian statesman, journalist, dissident, leader of the Ukrainian national-democratic liberation movement, died in a car accident.
"Over Ukraine hangs the ominous two-headed shadow of Russian imperialism, which is just waiting for the final collapse of our society to launch its predatory claws into the living body of our people," this prophetic statement was said by Vyacheslav Chornovol in 1997.
He was a true national leader. Withstood hundreds of interrogations, years in prisons and camps, he never betrayed his friends and his idea - to fight for the independence of Ukraine to the last.
Let's recall today the most significant facts from his biography.
1. He was born on December 24, 1937 in the village of Yerki in Kyiv Oblast (now Cherkasy Oblast) in a family of teachers.
His father came from the ancient Cossack family of Chornovoliv, and on his mother's side, Vyacheslav Maksymovich is a descendant of the Tereshchenko family of sugar manufacturers and patrons.
In Soviet times, the Chornovol family was persecuted by the communist totalitarian regime. In 1937, the uncle of the future politician Petro was arrested, who did not return from prison. During this terrible time, his father was also persecuted, so the family had to change their place of residence several times.
2. In 1955, he entered Taras Shevchenko Kyiv State University at the Faculty of Philology , later transferred to the Faculty of Journalism.
3. Vyacheslav Chornovil devoted his thesis to the journalism of Boris Grinchenko, whose work was banned by the Soviet authorities for a long time.
Already during the period of study, he had problems for his beliefs, he was even forced to interrupt his studies for a while. However, no obstacles could break the young man's will. According to the memories of close friends, at the graduation evening, Vyacheslav Maksymovich went to the Volodymyr Hill, where he swore to fight for Ukraine to the last. He did not betray his views until the end of his life...
4. From May 1963 to September 1964, he lived in Vyshgorod, working on the construction of the Kyiv HPP.
5. Started a powerful national liberation movement of the sixties in Ukraine, becoming one of its brightest participants and organizers, who during the 1960s and 1970s openly opposed the current communist regime, advocating the revival of Ukraine, its language, culture and state sovereignty. He took an active part in the activities of the Kyiv Creative Youth Club (KTM).
His circle of like-minded people included such prominent figures as: Ivan Svitlichnyi, Ivan Dzyuba, Vasyl Stus, Yevhen Sverstyuk, Iryna Kalynets, Alla Gorska, Mykola Plahotnyuk, Leonid Tanyuk and others.
6. On September 4, 1965, he spoke in the "Ukraine" cinema at the premiere of Serhiy Parajanov's film "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" together with Ivan Dzyuba and Vasyl Stus, protesting against the arrests of the Ukrainian intelligentsia.
This demonstration is considered one of the first actions of open opposition to the totalitarian government.
7. For his activities, he was imprisoned three times for "anti-Soviet propaganda" (1967-1969, 1972-1979, 1980-1988), spending more than 15 years in captivity.
Withstood 83 interrogations, receiving from the KGB the nicknames "Restless", "Motor of the Mordovian zones", "Zekiv general", "toothy zek"...
"If I were asked if I regret the way my life turned out, the 15 years I served, I would say: not at all. And if I had to start all over and choose, I would choose the life I lived," Vyacheslav Chornovil later remarked.
8. Already in independent Ukraine, he initiated the proclamation of the Declaration on the State Sovereignty of Ukraine and the Act of Proclamation of Independence of Ukraine.
The historical footage, where on August 24, 1991, Vyacheslav Chornovil first brings the yellow-blue flag to the session hall of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, covered the front pages of the Ukrainian and world mass media, forever remaining in our recent history. His figure at this fateful moment is immortalized in the Museum of the Formation of the Ukrainian Nation in Kyiv...
"We still have an independent state more like Orwell, we don't have a state yet, but only its sketch..." Vyacheslav Chornovil noted at the time.
9. During the first national elections for the President of Ukraine, Vyacheslav Chornovil was the highest-rated candidate from the democratic forces , won second place, receiving 23.27% of voter support.
How could the fate of our country develop if he became president? We can only guess.
But it is worth remembering that it was he who gave his life to serve Ukraine...
10. Vyacheslav Chornovil died tragically on March 25, 1999 under unknown circumstances in a car accident on the highway near Boryspil.
20 years have passed, but the circumstances of his death remain unclear to this day, the culprits of the accident have not been identified, and the key details of the investigation have not been clarified.
For many in Ukraine, this crime is clearly a political murder, but most of the time it was investigated as an ordinary traffic accident.
A large part of society is still convinced that the politician could be "removed" as a dangerous competitor in the upcoming presidential elections.
The funeral of Vyacheslav Chornovol became one of the most massive actions of the time of independence - 150-250 thousand people took part in the procession. The line to say goodbye to him at the Teacher's House stretched all the way to Khreschatyk.
Later, the coffin with his body was carried in their arms to the Volodymyr Cathedral. After the memorial service, the mournful procession went to Shevchenko Park, and later to Baikovy cemetery.
"...Our independence and our statehood will become an axiom only when society is the generator of the idea of statehood...", Vyacheslav Chornovil always stressed.
