OPEN LETTER

Ukrainian students, Gongadze Foundation schedule "Requiem 2000: Face the Truth!"

Below is the text of an open letter from "Requiem 2002: Face the Truth!" - an action to commemorate the journalists and political activists who have perished in Ukraine in the past 10 years.

Dear Friends:

On behalf of the Forum of Ukrainian Students in America and the Gongadze Foundation, we invite you to join a series of commemorative events "Requiem 2002: Face the Truth!" that will take place on September 15-16, in Washington, and other cities across the United States and Europe.

The events are organized on the date of the disappearance and murder of Ukrainian journalist Heorhii Gongadze as a tribute to the Ukrainian journalists and political activists who perished as a result of their professional activities over the last decade. The goal of the events is to draw public attention to the suppression of freedom and democracy in Ukraine, and to the reluctance of the Ukrainian authorities to investigate crimes against independent political activists.

The events will include memorial services in Ukrainian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic churches across the United States on the morning of September 15, a meeting-requiem and candlelight vigil at Taras Shevchenko park (22nd and P streets) in Washington on September 15 at 6-9 p.m., an open letter to the President of the United States George W. Bush, and student rallies in front of Ukrainian embassies and consulates in Washington, New York, Chicago, London, Paris, Berlin, and Prague on September 16.

The meeting-requiem and candlelight vigil are supported by Freedom House and the Committee to Protect Journalists. Among other participants of the meeting will be representatives of the U.S. Congress, international human rights organizations, and American and Ukrainian political and civic activists.

Detailed information about all events may be found on the official website of "Requiem 2002: Face the Truth!" located at www.gongadze.org.

Only together will we be able to protect democratic freedoms in Ukraine, and thus fulfill our debt to those who gave their lives trying to make Ukraine free.

On behalf of the organizing committee:

Myroslava Gongadze
Gongadze Foundation
([email protected])

Serhiy Kudelia
Forum of Ukrainian Students in America
([email protected])

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, September 1, 2002, No. 35, Vol. LXX

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