Nadiya Svitlychna

Who was Nadiya Svitlychna?

Nadiya Oleksiyivna Svitlychna was a Ukrainian dissident and human rights activist, and an active member of the Ukrainian Helsinki group. She was a writer and editor and for a time was a political prisoner of the Soviet regime.

Svitlychna was praised by Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko, who stated that "her views, the way she lived her life and passed along values to the next generation, have left footsteps to follow for millions of contemporary Ukrainian patriots."

After emigrating to the United States in November 1978 she became a member, along with General Petro Grigorenko and Leonid Plyushch of the External Representation of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group and continued her work in advocating human and national rights in Ukraine and protesting Soviet violations of the Helsinki Accords.