On November 15 in Kyiv the ‘Empty Chairs’ event will be held in support of imprisoned, captured and missing journalists and artists

On November 15 at 12 p.m. the human right action ‘Empty Chairs’ will be held at Sophia Square in support of journalists, writers, cultural artists and human rights defenders who have gone missing, been imprisoned or are in captivity due to the russia’s war against Ukraine. The event is organized by PEN Ukraine and Center for Civil Liberties. 

By the initiative of PEN International since the late 1980’s, November 15 has been recognized as the Day of the Imprisoned Writer or the Empty Chair Day. The empty chairs at human rights actions on this day became a symbol of the authors who can’t be with us due to imprisonment, persecution, disappearance or murder. Since 1980 PEN Ukraine in association with CCL has organized the human right action to remind Ukrainians and the world about the writers, artists and all Ukrainians who can’t be with us today due to russian aggression. 

The event aims to unite the efforts of all who support Ukraine and fight for the liberation of civilians and prisoners of war unlawfully detained as a result russia’s war against Ukraine. 

During the action at Sophia Square in Kyiv the families, friends and colleagues will tell the stories of the missing, imprisoned and captured Ukrainian authors, artists and human rights defenders. The participants of the event are:

• Maryna Aleksandrovych, wife of Mykola Leonovych, the poet and designer who went missing in April 2023 while on a combat mission near Avdiivka;
• Ivan Andrusyak, the writer, poet and interpreter, friend of Borys Humeniuk, who went missing while battles near Klishchiivka on December 2022;
• Oleksandra Barkova, sister of Bohdan Ziza, the artist from Crimea who was illegally sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on June 2023 by russian occupation authorities; 
• Oksana Mykhalevych, lawyer of Dmytro Khilyk, the journalist who was kidnapped by russian soldiers in the village of Kozarovychi near Vyshgorod, Kyiv region around March 4, 2022;
• Olena Tsepiga, wife of Sergey Tsepiga, the writer and journalist from Nova Khahovka who was sentenced by the so-called “Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea” to 13 years imprisonment in a high-security prison;
• Oksana Stomina, the poet and public activist from Mariupol. Her husband, Dmytro Paskalov, one of the defenders of the Azovstal steel plant, has been held captive by russia since May 2022.

The former unlawfully imprisoned – Lyudmyla Guseinova, the public journalist, human rights defender who has been held captive from October 2019 until October 2022, and Nariman Jellal, the journalist and human right defender, former political prisoner who was captivated by russian occupation authorities from September 2021 until June 28, 2024 will join the action too. 

Roman Yasinovsky will be the ambassador of the action.

During the event, at Sophia Square, the symbolic installation of the empty chairs with the names of the imprisoned, captured and missing authors, media workers, artists and human rights defenders will be set up. 

According to the Institution of Mass Information, at least 30 civilian Ukrainian media workers and 2 journalist-combatants now are captured. However, the human rights organizations still receive reports about the persecutions and imprisonment of journalists in the occupied territories. 

According to the data from the Centre for Civil Liberties, over 7,000 civilians are now illegally kept imprisoned in russia and on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The real figures, though, can be many times greater. Meanwhile, as of late September 2024, the Register of Persons Missing under Special Circumstances contains information about 55,000 people.

Ukrainian PEN and CCL propose the families of the civilian imprisoners and prisoners of war to join the action, to bring the sign with the name of their loved one who is captured under the oppression of the occupiers and the aggressor or who is gone missing due to the russia’s military actions in Ukraine. 

The organizers of the action also ask to send all information about the imprisoners, captured or missing authors, artists, human right defenders who are not included in the public monitoring reports on email  ukraine.pen@gmail.com.

Event organizers: Ukrainian PEN, Center for Civil Liberties.

The “Empty Chairs” event will take place with informational support from: Ukrainska Pravda, hromadske, Radio Liberty, The Ukrainians Media, PR Army.

Event partners: Institute of Mass Information, UHHRU, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, NGO “War Archive“.

Media registration available via the link. Facebook event available here.