On November 15 at 14:00, the annual human rights action “Empty Chairs” will take place in Sofia Square in Kyiv. The event is dedicated to supporting journalists, writers, cultural figures, and human rights defenders who have become victims of persecution, have been illegally imprisoned, or have gone missing due to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Symbolic Installation and Stories of the Captives
The event is organized by the Ukrainian PEN and the Center for Civil Liberties. During the action, an installation of empty chairs will be set up in the square, displaying the names of illegally imprisoned, captured, and missing Ukrainian authors, journalists, artists, and human rights defenders. This symbolism is intended to remind society of those who cannot be present due to persecution or captivity.
“Empty chairs at human rights actions on this day symbolize authors who cannot be with us due to imprisonment, persecution, disappearance, or murder”.
For the first time, the initiative “Day of Empty Chairs” was launched by International PEN in the late 1980s and is observed worldwide on November 15 as the Day of the Imprisoned Writer. In Ukraine, since 2018, this action has been organized by the Ukrainian PEN and the Center for Civil Liberties to draw attention to the issue of illegal imprisonment and persecution of Ukrainians as a result of Russian aggression.
Participation of Those Freed from Captivity and Calls for Support
During the action, participants will share stories of the missing, illegally imprisoned, and captured Ukrainian cultural figures and human rights defenders. Freed from Russian captivity, Maxim Butkevych, Dmytro Khilyuk, Leniye Umerova, Yulia “Taira” Paievska, and Vladyslav Yesypenko will join the event. All of them have personally experienced captivity and are ready to share their experiences.
The organizers call on the families of civilian prisoners and military captives to join the action, bringing signs with the names of their loved ones who are held captive by the occupiers or have gone missing due to the hostilities of Russia. The initiators also request to send information about authors, journalists, and human rights defenders who remain in captivity or are missing but not accounted for in public monitoring to the email [email protected].