The initiative “Letters to a Free Crimea”, organized by the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the Human Rights Center ZMINA and PEN Ukraine, lasted for a month – from April 27 to May 27. However, you can continue to write letters to our fellow citizens who have been illegally imprisoned in Crimea or deported to Russia by the occupiers – until the peninsula is de-occupied.

During the month of the campaign, we received more than 350 letters for Crimean political prisoners: from relatives and friends, from caring strangers, from children, from famous figures. The letters were sent from mainland Ukraine, Poland, Sweden and Thailand.

The action was joined by the Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov, the Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Tamila Tasheva, as well as writers, civic activists and intellectuals: Olga Gerasymiuk, Myroslava Gongadze, Vitaliy Portnikov, Sasha Koltsova, Irena Karpa, Myroslav Marynovych, Iryna Slavinska, and Andriy Kurkov.

Letters to Crimeans who are free in heart and soul were also written during this year’s Gongadze Prize, at the Protasiv Yar Festival in memory of Roman Ratushny, and at the Memory and Revival event at the Hryshko National Botanical Garden. In Krakow, Poland, the owners of the Nytka coffee shop devoted a whole day to the initiative.

The Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the Human Rights Center ZMINA and PEN Ukraine would like to express our gratitude to everyone who joined the “Letters to a Free Crimea” campaign. The least we can do for our fellow citizens imprisoned for their loyalty to Ukraine is to support them with a conversation, a funny story, a drawing or a postcard, even a poem.

We believe that soon all political prisoners will return home to a free Ukrainian Crimea. Until then, write a letter to the free Crimea in their minds and hearts. We will definitely pass it on!