On September 18, Lviv hosted the presentation of two new books by poet, musician, human rights defender, and former political prisoner Mykola Horbal — On the Roads of the Patriarch and In Search of Christ. For many years of his life, the author endured Soviet labor camps, including the notorious Perm-36, where numerous Ukrainian and Moscow dissidents were imprisoned. The event was moderated by Horbal’s long-time colleague and fellow former Perm-36 inmate, Myroslav Marynovych.
Mykola Horbal was born on September 10, 1940, in the village of Volovets in Lemkivshchyna. Trained as a musician and teacher, he began writing poetry in his youth and developed a deep interest in Ukrainian history and culture.
In 1970, Horbal was first arrested on charges of “anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda.” He was later tried again on similar accusations and ultimately spent more than sixteen years in prison and exile. Despite the harsh repression, he became an active member of the Ukrainian human rights movement, joined the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, and contributed to the samizdat publication The Chronicle of Current Events.
His years in Perm-36 in the late 1970s were especially difficult. There, he was imprisoned alongside prominent dissidents such as Viktor Marchenko and Myroslav Marynovych. Horbal was accused of distributing “slanderous materials” and of supporting the Helsinki Group. Subjected to constant pressure and punishments for “disobedience,” he nevertheless emerged as a steadfast defender of human rights and a poet who preserved his inner freedom.
Many leading dissidents — including Vasyl Stus, Viktor Marchenko, Semyon Kirichenko, Gleb Supperfin, Sergei Kovalev, and Elena Bonner — spoke out in his defense. Horbal remained loyal to his beliefs even under strict-regime conditions, and after his release he continued his literary and civic work.
Today, Mykola Horbal’s writings and life story stand as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and to the memory of resistance against oppression that unites the fates of those imprisoned in the camps of Russia’s Perm region.