Svitlychna, Nadiia

Svitlychna, Nadiia [Світлична, Надія; Svitlyčna, Nadija], b 8 November 1936 in Polovynkyne, Starobilsk raion, Luhansk oblast, d 8 August 2006 in Matawan, New Jersey, USA. Dissident and political prisoner; sister of Ivan Svitlychny. She was arrested in April 1972 and sentenced in March 1973 to four years in a labor camp for women in the Mordovian ASSR, for her involvement in the Ukrainian dissident movement, her defense of political prisoners, and her dissemination of samvydav literature. After her release in May 1976, she returned to Kyiv, where she was further persecuted. In October 1978 she was allowed to emigrate to the United States with her two sons. She has been active in the Ukrainian Helsinki Group's External Representation, published the Herald of Repression in Ukraine (1980–5), and edited a pamphlet on Yurii Lytvyn (1980) and an edition of Vasyl Stus's poetry (1986). From 1983 to 1994 she worked at the Ukrainian broadcast service of Radio Liberty.

[This article was updated in 2013.]