Yevhrafov, Mykola Andriyovych

YEVHRAFOV, MYKOLA ANDRIYOVYCH (born October 19, 1930, in the city of Sloviansk, Stalino [now Donetsk] oblast—died November 30, 2000, in Sloviansk).
Worker, political prisoner.
He had a third-grade education. In 1948, he graduated from a factory and plant school as a mechanic. After graduating, he was assigned to work in a mine.
In 1947, for not showing up to work on a Sunday, he was sentenced to four months of forced labor with a 25% wage deduction, based on the Decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 26, 1940, “On the Transition to an Eight-Hour Workday, a Seven-Day Workweek, and on the Prohibition of Unauthorized Departure of Workers and Employees from Enterprises and Institutions.”
Charged with escaping from forced labor, he was imprisoned for an additional four months (1948–1949).
In 1950, Yevhrafov was sentenced to 10 years in prison under the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 4, 1947, “On Criminal Liability for the Theft of State and Public Property.” In 1953, his sentence was halved. He was released under amnesty in 1955.
In 1956, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of....?
In 1957, 1958, and 1961, he was punished for attempting to escape from prison.
In June 1964, for writing and distributing the article “The Truth About Soviet Reality” among prisoners, he was sentenced under Part 1 of Article 62 of the Criminal Code of the UkrSSR to 7 years of imprisonment. He served his sentence in Mordovia. He was released in 1973 after his term was reduced by a third. He worked in Sloviansk as a general laborer, a loader, and a repair mechanic (he had a IV skill category). He was under administrative surveillance.
On November 12, 1974, he was arrested by officers of the investigative department of the KGB Directorate of the UkrSSR Council of Ministers for Donetsk oblast on charges of conducting “anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda.” He was accused of writing and distributing the critical work “The Truth About Untruth” (which he had allowed three acquaintances to read) and of conversations and statements of an “anti-Soviet, slanderous” nature, expressing dissatisfaction with the Soviet government in conversations with workers, and so on.
The verdict stated the following about his work: “The defendant, using notes with anti-Soviet statements by foreign reactionary sociologists, philosophers, and economists brought from his places of confinement, wrote an anti-Soviet pasquinade in 1974. In it, he falsifies the teachings of Marxism-Leninism, slanders the Soviet economy, the national policy of the Soviet state, and the world communist movement.”
Regarding the “anti-Soviet statements,” it was specifically stated: “he praised Ukrainian bourgeois nationalists, he praised the order and system in capitalist countries.”
On April 29, 1975, he was sentenced by the judicial collegium for criminal cases of the Donetsk oblast court in a closed session (presiding judge—Eduard Zinchenko, prosecutor—Yuriy Noskov, defense attorney—Yuriy Aleksevnіn) under Part 2 of Article 62 of the Criminal Code of the UkrSSR to 10 years of imprisonment. He was declared an especially dangerous recidivist. The sentence came into force on June 5, 1975.
While serving his sentence in the Mordovian camps, particularly in institution ZhKh-385/1-6 (Sosnovka), he worked as a general laborer and for several months as a medic.
In 1977, along with other political prisoners, he signed an appeal to the Holy See, the World Council of Churches, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and the Helsinki Accords signatory states titled “In Defense of Father Vasyl Romaniuk.” He also signed other collective documents and wrote a total of 8 statements and appeals himself. Since no one could visit him, he passed them on through other people.
In November 1977, together with B. REBRYK, V. ROMANIUK, O. TYKHY, and M. OSADCHY, he founded the “Society for the Defense of the Ukrainian Language.”
In 1978, he joined a hunger strike to protest a “new wave of beatings of political prisoners,” of which the Moscow Helsinki Group had been notified in advance.
On March 1, 1980, all political prisoners from Sosnovka were transported to the special regime section of colony VS-389/36-1 in the village of Kuchino, Chusovskoy raion, Perm oblast.
On November 12, 1984, he was released upon completion of his full term.
He had 8 convictions; in total, he was sentenced to 60 years of imprisonment, of which he served 34.
He returned to Sloviansk, where he took any job he could find—in a bathhouse, as a rescuer, a watchman, a stoker. He remained under administrative surveillance.
In 1990, he participated in the creation of city branches of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group (later the Ukrainian Republican Party) and the People’s Movement of Ukraine, in events honoring O. TYKHY, and contributed to the democratic press.


Bibliography:
1.
Appeal of Ukrainian political prisoners in defense of Fr. V. Romaniuk. / Ukrainian Helsinki Group. 1978 – 1982. Documents and materials. Compiled and edited by Osyp Zinkevych. – Toronto–Baltimore: “Smoloskyp” Ukrainian Publishing House named after V. Symonenko, 1983. – pp. 590-594; Ibid: The Ukrainian Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords: Documents and Materials. In 4 volumes. Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group; Kharkiv: Folio, 2001. – Vol. 3. Documents and Materials. August 1977 – December 10, 1978. Compiled by V. V. Ovsiienko. – pp. 10-12;
When conscience is not enough... // Information Bulletin of the URP (Sloviansk city organization), 1990, No. 2. – November;
I Cannot Remain Silent! // Information Bulletin of the URP (Sloviansk city organization), 1991, April, No. 6;
Again About the Idol // “Lastivka” (Sloviansk), 1995, No. 2. – April 17.
2.
Chronicle of Current Events, issue 42, October 8, 1976: http://hr2.memo.ru/wiki/8358;
Herald of Repression in Ukraine. Foreign Representation of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. Ed.-compiler N. Svitlychna. New York, 1984: 12-26; 1985: 3-27;
58-10. Supervisory Proceedings of the USSR Prosecutor's Office in Cases of Anti-Soviet Agitation and Propaganda. March 1953 – 1991. Annotated Catalog. Edited by V.A. Kozlov and S.V. Mironenko; compiled by O.V. Edelman, M.: International “Democracy” Foundation, 1999. – 944 p. (Russia. XX century. Documents)”: – pp. 765-766;
Interview with Ivan Hel, 2003: https://museum.khpg.org/1348418185;
Vakhtang Kipiani Archive;
Resistance Movement in Ukraine: 1960 – 1990. Encyclopedic Directory / Foreword by Osyp Zinkevych, Oles Obertas. – K.: Smoloskyp, 2010. – pp. 229-230; 2nd ed., 2012. – pp. 252-253;
Levko Lukianenko. From the Times of Captivity. Book Five: The Obsessed. – K.: Tampodek XXI, 2012. – pp. 319, 381-382.