Levko Lukianenko

Ukrainian dissident and politician of the times of the USSR, co-founder of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, politician and public figure, member of parliament,  Hero of Ukraine, writer, the author of the "Declaration of Independence of Ukraine" from August 24, 1991. He was born on August 24, 1928 in the village Khrypivka in Chernihiv region. Since early childhood he has read a lot, thought about how depressed the Ukrainian people are. After going on a vacation to home in 1950, where he saw a need, humiliation, Lukianenko concluded that people must fight for an independent Ukraine and he dedicated his life to this aim.

After graduation from the university in 1958 he worked as a full-time agitprop for the Radekhiv district committee, since 1959 he worked as a lawyer for the Glynyany district of Lviv region. Here he created an opposition to the Soviet government, "the Ukrainian Workers and Peasants Union", which advocated the constitutional separation of Ukraine from the USSR. For this, in January 1961 he was expelled from the Communist party and sentenced to death for "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda." However, the sentence was replaced by imprisonment for a term of 15 years.

In 1976 L. Lukianenko was left off and he became one of the founders of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. The following year, he was again arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison and 5 years to penal transportation. In 1988 Lukianenko was released. Thus he spent 26 years in prison.  11/30/88 Lukianenko amnestied, and set aside his judgment for exile. In early 1989 he returned to Ukraine. On March 30, 1990, Lukianenko was elected by 54.00% of the vote (from 8 candidates) as a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine from the Railway (No. 196) constituency. On April 29, 1990, Lukianenko and his group of associates formed the Ukrainian Republican Party, the headman of which he was elected.