On November 15 at 12:00, a human rights event, Empty Chairs, will be held at Sofia Square to support journalists, writers, cultural figures, and human rights defenders who have gone missing, been imprisoned, or are detained due to Russia’s war against Ukraine. The event is organized by Ukrainian PEN and the Center for Civil Liberties.

Since the late 1980s, at the initiative of PEN International, the world has marked November 15 as the Day of the Imprisoned Writer, or Empty Chair Day. Empty chairs at human rights events on this day symbolize authors who cannot be with us due to imprisonment, persecution, disappearance, or murder. Since 2018, Ukrainian PEN, together with the Center for Civil Liberties, has organized this day to remind Ukrainians and the world of writers, artists, and all Ukrainians who cannot be with us due to Russian aggression.

The event aims to unite the efforts of everyone who supports Ukraine and is fighting for the release of civilians and POWs unlawfully detained as a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

During the event at Sofia Square in Kyiv, relatives, friends, and colleagues will share the stories of missing, imprisoned, and detained Ukrainian authors, artists, and human rights defenders. Participants will include:

• Maryna Aleksandrovych, wife of poet and designer Mykola Leonovych, who went missing in April 2023 during combat near Avdiivka;
• Ivan Andrusyak, writer, poet, translator, and friend of poet Borys Humenyuk, who went missing in action near Klishchiivka in December 2022;
• Oleksandra Barkova, sister of Bohdan Ziza, a Crimean artist illegally sentenced to 15 years by Russian occupation administration in June 2023;
• Oksana Mykhalevych, lawyer of journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, abducted by Russian soldiers in Kozarovychi, Vyshhorod district, Kyiv region, around March 4, 2022;
• Olena Tsyhipa, wife of Serhii Tsyhipa, writer and journalist from Nova Kakhovka, sentenced to 13 years in a maximum-security prison by the so-called “Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea”;
• Oksana Stomina, poet and civic activist from Mariupol, whose husband, Dmytro Paskalov, one of the defenders of the Azovstal, has been held captive in Russia since May 2022.

Former unlawfully imprisoned persons will also join the event: Liudmyla Huseinova, a civic journalist and human rights defender who was held captive from October 2019 to October 2022, and Nariman Dzhelyal, a journalist and human rights defender, who was imprisoned by Russian occupation administration from September 2021 to June 28, 2024. 

Actor Roman Yasinovskyi will be an ambassador for the event.

A symbolic installation of empty chairs, bearing the names of imprisoned, detained, and missing authors, media professionals, artists, and human rights defenders, will be displayed at Sofia Square.

According to the Institute of Mass Information, at least 30 civilian Ukrainian media professionals and two journalist-combatants are currently detained. Human rights organizations continue to receive reports of persecution and imprisonment of journalists in the occupied territories.

The Center for Civil Liberties reports that more than 7,000 unlawfully detained civilians are currently held in Russia on temporarily occupied territories, though the real number may be much higher. As of late September 2024, the Register of Persons Missing in Special Circumstances includes data on 55,000 individuals.

Ukrainian PEN and the Center for Civil Liberties invite families of detained civilians and POWs to join the event, bringing a sign with the name of their loved one held captive by the occupiers or missing due to Russia’s war on Ukrainian territory.

The organizers also encourage people to send information about imprisoned, detained, or missing authors, artists, and human rights defenders not yet accounted for in public monitoring, to [email protected].

Event organizers: Ukrainian PEN, Center for Civil Liberties.

“Empty Chairs” is supported by: Ukrainska Pravda, hromadske, Radio Svoboda, The Ukrainians Media.

Event partners: Institute of Mass Information, ZMINA Human Rights Center, Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, UHHRU, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, Ukraine War Archive NGO.

Media registration link.

 Facebook link.