Turning the pages back...

April 11, 1999

Four years ago, Ukraine mourned Vyacheslav Chornovil, who was killed in an auto accident in the late night hours of March 25, on the road near Boryspil International Airport located outside of Kyiv.

Tens of thousands came to bid a final farewell to the human and national rights activist, former Soviet political prisoner, leader of Rukh and former presidential candidate. Indeed, Roman Woronowycz of our Kyiv Press Bureau reported that 50,000 lined the streets to witness the funeral procession and that 20,000 gathered for the final viewing at the Teacher's Building, the base of the independent Ukrainian government of 1918.

Marta Kolomayets, who worked at The Weekly in 1982-1984 and 1988-1996, including several stints in the Kyiv Press Bureau, wrote a reminiscence of the national leader.

"... He had one ideal, one principle, and he lived for it. Even in these last few months, when Rukh was splintered, he believed that in the end all would unite for a principle that was greater than that of clashing personalities: a united, democratic Ukraine.

"Few people see their dreams come true. Vyacheslav Chornovil, the political prisoner, the human rights activist, the journalist, the politician, the statesman, the presidential candidate, the beacon of the democratic movement, the spirit of Ukrainian nationalism, the Ukrainian patriot saw his dream become reality. He acknowledged that it was not yet the perfect Ukraine, not the kind of Ukraine he wanted to see, but it was a start ..."

Source: "Ukraine mourns Chornovil," by Roman Woronowycz, The Ukrainian Weekly, April 4, 1999, Vol. LXVII, No. 14, and "In memoriam: Vyacheslav Chornovil, champion of independent Ukraine," by Marta Kolomayets, The Ukrainian Weekly, April 11, 1999, Vol. LXVII, No. 15.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 6, 2003, No. 14, Vol. LXXI

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