An event dedicated to the Empty Chairs Day was held in Kyiv. ZMINA became a partner of the event

On November 15, Kyiv hosted the Empty Chairs human rights event in support of journalists, writers, cultural figures and human rights defenders who went missing, were imprisoned or are in captivity because of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Empty Chairs event. Kyiv, November 15, 2024. Photo: Yevhenii Zavhorodnii (photo)

During the event, a symbolic installation of empty chairs with the names of imprisoned, imprisoned and missing authors, media workers, artists and human rights defenders was set up on Sofia Square. Some of the chairs were marked with the words “Name Unknown”, as there are Ukrainians among the prisoners, captives and missing persons whose fate is unknown.

The event was attended by writers, journalists, human rights defenders, relatives, friends and colleagues of authors and artists who are in captivity, imprisonment or have the status of “Missing”, among others: Maryna Aleksandrovych, wife of poet and designer Mykola Leonovych, who went missing in April 2023 while performing a combat mission near Avdiivka; Ivan Andrusiak, writer, poet, translator, friend of poet Borys Humeniuk, who went missing in the battles near Klishchiivka in December 2022; Oleksandra Barkova, sister of Bohdan Ziza, an artist from Crimea who was illegally sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Russian occupation authorities in Crimea in June 2023; Oksana Mykhalevych, lawyer of journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, who was abducted by Russian military personnel in the village of Kozarovychi, Vyshhorod district, Kyiv region, in March 2022; Oksana Stomina, a poet and civil society activist from Mariupol. Her husband, Dmytro Paskalov, one of the defenders of the Azovstal Metallurgical Combine, has been in Russian captivity since May 2022; Olena Tsyhipa, wife of Serhii Tsyhipa, writer and journalist from Nova Kakhovka, who was sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security colony by the so-called “Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea”.

Photo: Yevhenii Zavhorodnii

Formerly illegally imprisoned journalists and human rights defenders Liudmyla Huseinova and Nariman Dzhelyal also joined the event. In previous years, their names were on empty chairs at the events, but this year they took them themselves. This is very symbolic and gives us hope that all those who are currently in captivity will definitely return home.

“When you are in prison, any information that you are remembered and everyone reminds about you helps and breaks through like a thin thread of light that you hold on to. A thread that leads you to the exit… I want us to get together, not to stop, to be conscious and help everyone who needs it. Events like Empty Chairs are held not only to support those behind bars and their families. This is a test for our society, a reminder that the war we are fighting for our freedom leaves us with people who can feel compassion, be caring, and achieve goals,” Nariman Dzhelyal said.

Nariman Dzhelyal and Liudmyla Huseinova. Photo: Yevhenii Zavhorodnii (photo)

During the action, they held a minute of silence to remember those Ukrainians whose lives were taken by Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The organisers called to become the voice of those held in captivity and imprisonment – to support information and advocacy campaigns of human rights organisations, to disseminate information about violations of the rights of prisoners of war and civilians illegally detained, to write letters to victims of unfair trials in Russia.

Organisers of the event: PEN Ukraine, Centre for Civil Liberties.

Partners of the event: Institute of Mass Information, Human Rights Centre ZMINA, UHHRU, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, NGO Ukraine War Archive.

The Empty Chairs event was held with the media support of Ukrainska Pravda, hromadske, Radio Liberty, and The Ukrainians Media.