Who murdered Volodymyr
Ivasiuk?
Halas
(Clamor)
May 15, 1999
Volodymyr Ivasiuk is best known as a composer and poet, author of the
widely popular song Chervona Ruta whose first two lines appear below as
he wrote them in his own hand, which song more than anything else made
him beloved throughout Ukraine, and even beyond the borders of Ukraine.
On top of that, Volodymyr was a man of many talents, having earned a
degree in medicine, and having demonstrated talent in art, photography,
and cinematography. However, having reached his prime showing so much
promise, it was not given Volodymyr Ivasiuk to develop his talents
further. He was dead at the age of 30. To the right is a photograph of
his funeral procession, attended by thousands of mourners despite the
suppression by the state of the publication of information concerning
his burial, despite official warnings to not attend funeral services,
and despite the calling of Komsomol meetings, which carried mandatory
attendance, on the same day. The magazine Halas, on whose information I
rely in the present letter, states that Rostyslaw Bratun who was the
first to step forward and speak at Volodymyr's funeral lost his job two
months later. Words spoken at the funeral by the Sichko family landed
them in prison. To the right is a second photograph showing the statue
that was eventually erected in Volodymyr Ivasiuk's memory. And just how
did Volodymyr Ivasiuk meet his end? His death certificate which appears
below states that he died on 24-27 April 1979 from mechanical
asphyxiation caused by hanging in a noose, and attributes the hanging
to suicide. The details of Volodymyr Ivasiuk's death, however, do not
support the
official view that he killed himself: They waited and searched for
Volodya for 24 days. Following the mysterious disappearance of the
composer, the search for him was not disclosed to the public, the
explanation being given that such an announcement would create a
disturbance. However, the mass media are daily used not only to help
locate people, but sometimes even their pets. [...] It was not until
May 18, 1979 that Volodymyr Ivasiuk's body was accidentally discovered
in the heavy forest near the village Briukhovych near Lviv. One
couldn't bring oneself to believe it. The parents were allowed to
identify their son only on the following day, even though it was only a
five-minute walk from the apartment where Volodya lived to the morgue;
and the identification was conducted with gross violations of law. The
father was allowed to view the body only after he repeatedly telephoned
the Oblast Procurator threatening to send a telegram of complaint to
the General Procurator of Ukraine. The local authorities eventually
gave in with the exasperated reply: "Take your son home, and look at
him there at least a hundred years!" His death certificate reported
that he died 24-27 April 1979 at the age of 30. The cause of death:
mechanical asphyxiation. Hanging from a noose - suicide. The death
certificate was issued on May 21, 1979, and even back then, a mere
three days after the body had been discovered, without any evidence or
investigation it had been written in black and white that Volodymyr
Ivasiuk had committed suicide. There immediately arises the question
that if the composer had indeed hung himself on 24-27 April, and was
not found until 18 May, whether he could have remained hanging from a
tree for 21-24 days. Volodya weighed 80 kg (176 lb), such that hanging
for so long, the noose would have cut into his neck to the depth of the
bones. Also during May the weather was warm and dry. The body would
have decomposed during this interval, and from it would have emanated
an intolerable odour. All these substantiating signs were missing, and
missing too were the autopsy photographs. On May 22 of every year let
us remember that Volodymyr Ivasiuk became another innocent victim of a
totalitarian regime.
M. Masly, Volodymyr Ivasiuk: Light and
Shadow of a Legend, Halas
(Clamor), 3Jun97, pp. 11-12,
as translated by Lubomyr Prytulak.
Halas is a Ukrainian-language magazine which reviews popular music and
is published in Kyiv. The section commemorating Volodymyr Ivasiuk in
the 3Jun97 issue was sponsored and supported by Coca Cola Ukraine. And
truly, the administration hated him while he was alive, and feared him
once he was dead. Volodya's mother, Sophia Ivanivna Ivasiuk met with
the first secretary of the Lviv administration, V. Dobryk to plead with
him to permit a monument to be placed on the grave of her son. "The war
took from me my father and three brothers. My sister's husband did not
return from the front," wept the woman, "and now my son too has been
lost. Do I not after all that have the right to consecrate his memory?"
In reply, Dobryk (what evil irony that such a soulless individual
should have a name denoting goodness) pressed a concealed button and
said in Russian to the lackey who entered, "Take that lady out."
Following this visit, Sophia Ivanivna Ivasiuk received the "insult in
the name of Dobryk." She has been in ill health ever since. Sooner or
later will arrive the day when truth will emerge victorious. But in the
meantime, those who come too near to the truth concerning what happened
to Volodymyr Ivasiuk find themselves the victims of an unusual number
of accidents. One man's wife unexpectedly hangs herself, another man
throws himself from a balcony, still another drowns, yet another falls
under the wheels of a car.... But remember, butchers, God's punishment
will descend even upon you!