Ivan Myron, a political prisoner from Transcarpathia who spent 25 years in Soviet concentration camps, died at the age of 97.
This was announced by the head of the Transcarpathian OVA, Myroslav Biletsky.
Myron was a member of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. In 1950, when Transcarpathia was already part of Soviet Ukraine, he received a summons to serve in the army, but he refused.
"His life is an example of struggle and dignity, loyalty to the truth and Ukraine. He went through the most difficult trials of fate, remaining unwavering in his faith, ideas, and beliefs," Biletskyi commented.
Later, Ivan Myron joined the ranks of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which was operating underground at the time. However, he was detained by the Soviet secret services due to a denunciation. After the trial, the sentence was announced - 25 years in camps.
"We were tried by 18 people. Six — a third — were teachers. In particular, my friend Andriy Skrypka. The others — those who gave the rebels food or saw something and did not report it. Even the article was "for non-reporting". I was 21 years old when I was sentenced "for treason and participation in counter-revolutionary activities" to 25 years," the man said in an interview with Ukrainians magazine.
He served his sentence, including in a camp in Norilsk, and in 1953 he participated in the uprising there. He was later transferred to Mordovia. Ivan Miron was released only in 1976.
In 1993, the Transcarpathian Court recognized Ivan Myron as unjustly convicted in the USSR, and in 1995 the Supreme Court of Ukraine reclassified his case, canceling the political articles, but indicating the conviction "for evasion from the army."
Previously, a former Kremlin prisoner visited a prison in Syria run by the Assad regime .