Ivan Gel Explained

Ivan Gel
Native Name Lang:uk
Office:Deputy Chairman of the Lviv Oblast Council
Termstart:1990
Termend:1994
Birth Date:17 July 1937
Birth Place:Klitsko, today Lviv oblast
Death Place:Lviv
Awards:

Known For:human rights activism with participation in the Ukrainian Helsinki Group

Ivan Gel (Ukrainian: Іван Андрійович Ґель July 17, 1937, Klitsko (today Lviv Raion) – March 16, 2011)[1] was a Ukrainian politician and dissident. He was a member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group and the Ukrainian Christian Democratic Party.

Biography

He graduated from a night school in Sambir and worked as a mechanic at the Lviv Forklift Plant.

From 1956 to 1959 he served in the army. After demobilization, he entered the department of the History Faculty of Lviv State University.

On August 24, 1965, he was arrested and sentenced to 3 years in a strict regime camp for "anti-Soviet propaganda".

On January 12, 1972, he was arrested for the second time and sentenced to 10 years in a special regime camp and 5 years in exile, recognized as a particularly dangerous recidivist. He served his sentence in Mordovia (Sosnovka) and in the Perm region (Kuchino).

He participated in hunger strikes in the camps, including a hunger strike demanding political prisoner status. Total duration of hunger strikes was over 300 days.

Ivan Gel returned to Ukraine on January 17, 1987, and created and headed the Committee for the Protection of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

He was a deputy and deputy chairman of the Lviv Oblast Council of the first democratic convocation (1990–1994). He headed the Lviv Regional Commission for the Restoration of the Rights of Rehabilitated Persons.

He died on March 16, 2011, in Lviv and was buried in the family grave at Lychakiv Cemetery.

Awards

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ukrainian dissident Ivan Hel has died. risu.org.ua. 2019-06-06.
  2. http://zakon1.rada.gov.ua/cgi-bin/laws/main.cgi?nreg=759%2F2009 Указ Президента України №759/2009 від 18 вересня 2009 року «Про відзначення державними нагородами України»
  3. http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/cgi-bin/laws/main.cgi?nreg=694%2F2006 Указ Президента України №694/2006 від 18 серпня 2006 року «Про відзначення державними нагородами України працівників підприємств, установ та організацій з нагоди Дня незалежності України»
  4. http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/cgi-bin/laws/main.cgi?nreg=57%2F2002 Указ Президента України №57/2002 від 21 січня 2002 року «Про нагородження працівників підприємств, організацій та установ Львівської області»