On November 9 the Ukrainian Non-Governmental Helsinki Monitoring Group turned 25. Its leader Mykola Rudenko has announced that the main goals, freedom of expression and termination of political repression, have been achieved now. “Currently Ukraine does not have such problems as prison camps and mass repression. The group has attained its goal,” he said, addressing a November 8 press conference in Kyiv. Group members continue to cooperate with Ukrainian and international human rights groups. For example, assisted by the latter, a Kharkiv-based human rights group is drawing up the most complete list of post-Stalin-era Ukrainian political prisoners, now comprising over 3,200 people. In honor of the Ukrainian group jubilee, the Kharkiv human-rights group has prepared and put out a four volume publication, The Ukrainian Non-Governmental Helsinki Monitoring Group: Documents and Materials. On the jubilee day, Kyiv hosted a workshop, Human Rights in Ukraine: Yesterday and Today, and a ceremonial public meeting attended by most members of the group. The Ukrainian Helsinki Monitoring Group was formed on November 9, 1976. While the group existed from 1976 until 1988, it officially comprised 47 members out of whom 44 were convicted and served sentences in prison camps, jails, and mental institutions. 27 people have survived until this day. The group documented human rights abuse by Soviet authorities. Among group members were such Ukrainian figures as Bohdan and Mykhailo Horyn, Yury Lytvyn, Leonid Pliushch, and Vyacheslav Chornovil.
