Levko Lukyanenko

Levko Hryhorovych Lukyanenko

Levko Lukyanenko near the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev (October 2006)
1st Ukraine Ambassador to Canada
In office
May 14, 1992  October 15, 1993
Preceded by post created
Succeeded by Viktor Batyuk
Personal details
Born (1927-08-24) August 24, 1927
Khrypivka, Horodnia Raion,
Chernihiv Okruha,  USSR
Political party URP
Other political
affiliations
KPSS (1953-1961)
Spouse(s) Nadia Lukianenko
Children ?
Alma mater Moscow State University
Occupation jurist, politician, writer
Awards
People's Deputy of Ukraine
1st convocation
15 May 1990 – 18 June 1992
Elected as: Ukrainian Republican Party, Zaliznychyi district No.196 (People's Movement of Ukraine)[1]
2nd convocation
9 February 1995 – 12 May 1998
Elected as: Ukrainian Republican Party, Novovolynsk No.68[2]
4th convocation
14 May 2002 – 25 May 2006
Elected as: Ukrainian Republican Party "Sobor", Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc No.5[3]
5th convocation
25 May 2006 – 15 June 2007
Elected as: Independent, Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc No.6[4]

Levko Hryhorovych Lukyanenko (Ukrainian: Левко́ Григо́рович Лук'я́ненко, sometimes written as Levko Lukianenko, born 24 August 1927, Khrypivka) is a Ukrainian politician, and Soviet dissident and Hero of Ukraine.[5] He was one of the founders of Ukrainian Helsinki Group in 1976 and was elected a leader of the revived Ukrainian Helsinki Group, Ukrainian Helsinki Association, in 1988.

Biography

Lukyanenko was born on 24 August 1927 in the Khrypivka village of Horodnia Raion, in the USSR. During the World War II in 1944 he was recruited in the Soviet Army and served in Austria and then in Caucasus region (cities Ordzhonikidze and Nakhichevan). In 1953 Lukianenko enrolled in the Law Department of Moscow State University and joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Soon after graduation in 1958, Lukianenko was directed as a propagandist to the Radekhiv Raion Communist Party committee.

In 1959 in the time of the Khrushchev Thaw, he organized a dissident movement in Hlyniany called the Ukrainian Workers and Peasants Union along with Ivan Kandyba and others; Lukianenko defended the right of secession of Ukraine from the rest of Soviet Union, a right theoretically granted by the 1936 Soviet Constitution (Articles 17 and 125).[6] In May 1961 he was expelled from the party, arrested, tried, and sentenced by the Lviv Oblast Court to death for idea of separatism. After 72 days his sentence was later commuted to 15 years in a prison camp. Lukianenko served his sentence at first in Mordovia and then in Vladimir. Soon after his release in 1976 he became a founding member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. In 1977 he was arrested again and was sentenced by Chernihiv Oblast Court to 10 years in a camp and 5 years of internal exile for "Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda".

In 1988 Lukyanenko was released in the wave of Gorbachev's perestroika, and was elected a member of Ukrainian parliament in 1990. He was the co-author of Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine and the author of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine adopted in 1991. Lukyanenko was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine by President Viktor Yushchenko on April 19, 2005.[5]

Also in 2005, he participated in a conference entitled "Zionism As the Biggest Threat to Modern Civilization," which was controversial for its anti-Semitic tone and its invitation of former Grand Wizard David Duke.[7] Lukyanenko sat next to Duke and gave him a standing ovation.[8] Presenting his own paper, Lukyanenko argued that the Holodomor was carried out by a satanic government controlled by the Jews. According to Lukyanenko, 95% of Soviet people's commissars were Jewish, most military and judicial commissars were Jewish, Lenin and Stalin were Jewish, and "thus… of the most important administrative positions… 80% were Jews."[8]

Lukyanenko has argued that there is no anti-Semitism in Ukraine, since he has "not met a single Ukrainian, who is a opposed to all Semitic people."[8][9] According to Lukyanenko, Ukrainians base their attitudes of other ethnic groups upon "their attitudes towards us."[8][9]

In 2006, Lukyanenko was a member of Ukrainian parliament, elected with the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko.

In 2006 and (after an interval) again in 2010 Lukyanenko was elected leader of the Ukrainian Republican Party.[10][11]

See also

References

  1. "People's Deputy of Ukraine of the I convocation". Official portal (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  2. "People's Deputy of Ukraine of the II convocation". Official portal (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  3. "People's Deputy of Ukraine of the IV convocation". Official portal (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  4. "People's Deputy of Ukraine of the V convocation". Official portal (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  5. 1 2 (Ukrainian) Presidential decree awarding title Hero of Ukraine, Official Verkhovna Rada website
  6. Human Rights on Trial (Contd.), TIME Magazine, July 31, 1978
  7. David Duke participates in anti-Semitic conference in the Ukraine
  8. 1 2 3 4 Rudling, Per Anders (2006). "Organized Anti-Semitism in Contemporary Ukraine: Structure, Influence and Ideology". Canadian Slavonic Studies. 48 (2): 91.
  9. 1 2 Levko Lukianenko, “Do Evreis'koho pytannia, abo Chy isnuie v Ukraini anti-Semitism?” Personal Plius 73.26 (2004): 4-5.
  10. Lukyanenko was elected leader of Ukrainian Republican Party, Kyiv Post (November 25, 2010)
  11. (Ukrainian) Левко Лук'яненко знову очолив партію, Ukrayinska Pravda (November 25, 2010)
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.