Vyacheslav Chornovil

Ukrainian politician, Soviet dissident, journalist, one of the founders of the People's Rukh of Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine (2000).

He was born on December 24, 1937.

On September 4, 1965, Vyacheslav Chernovil, Vasyl Stus and Ivan Dzyuba spoke at the premiere of Sergei Parajanov's film "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" at the cinema "Ukraine" to protest against the arrest of Ukrainian anti-Soviet intellectuals - the so-called "sixties". For this, Chernovil was fired from the Young Guard. After that he got a job at the newspaper "Reader's Friend" as a literary worker.

In November 1967, he was first sentenced to six years in a high-security colony. The reason was his book about the sixties "Woe from Wit".

Since 1970 he published the underground magazine "Ukrainian Herald", for which in 1972 he was sentenced for the second time - six years in a high-security colony and three years of exile. He served his sentence in Mordovia and Yakutia.

In 1978 he was released. On May 22, 1979 he became a member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group.

In May 1980 he was arrested for the third time and exiled for five years to Yakutia. However, already in 1983 Chernovil was released, although without the right to travel to Ukraine, where he returned only in 1985.

On September 8-10, 1989 with the participation of Chernovol was created "People's Rukh Ukrainy for Perestroika" (later - People's Rukh Ukrainy).

On March 30, 1990 he was elected People's Deputy of Ukraine. In April 1990, he was also elected head of Lviv Regional Council.

On December 1, 1991, he took second place in the first presidential election in Ukraine with 7,420,727 votes (23.27%).

In March 1994, Vyacheslav Chernovil was elected People's Deputy of Ukraine for the second time (62.52% of votes, with 15 candidates).

In the March 29, 1998 elections to the Verkhovna Rada he was elected a People's Deputy of Ukraine for the third time. At the Ninth All-Ukrainian gatherings of the DNR, held from December 12 to 13, 1998, he nominated his candidacy for the post of President of Ukraine (presidential elections were planned for 1999) together with Hennadiy Udovenko. However, in January 1999, he withdrew his candidacy.

On February 28, 1999, another split takes place in the DNR. Vyacheslav Chernovol's deputy Yuriy Kostenko and a group of supporters try to come to power, but his actions are recognized illegal, and the leadership remains with Vyacheslav Chernovol.

On March 25, 1999, Vyacheslav Chernovol was killed in a car crash.