Last year, Left Voice called for the release of Ukrainian socialist Bogdan Syrotiuk, who had been imprisoned for opposing the war in Ukraine. On August 10, a Ukrainian court sentenced the 27-year-old socialist to 15 years in prison for “high treason… under martial law.” He is now appealing the verdict.

Bogdan was arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on April 25, 2024. He was accused of acting in the interests of the Russian government and charged with treason, an offense carrying a sentence of up to life imprisonment. Bogdan had attempted to establish a socialist organization in Ukraine, the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists (YGBL), in collaboration with the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS).

The prosecution did not produce evidence that Bogdan engaged in espionage, sabotage, or collaboration with the Russian military. Instead, the case rested on his political writings and communications with the WSWS. The court ultimately convicted him on the basis of six articles.

What was criminal about these articles? They opposed the war, criticized the Ukrainian government, challenged the glorification of Ukrainian nationalist forces, and called for unity between Ukrainian and Russian workers. One of the writings cited by the court was a 2023 May Day speech entitled “For the Unity of the Working Class of Russia and Ukraine!” Another of his articles, “The crimes of the Banderovites against the Ukrainian people,” denounces the rehabilitation of Stepan Bandera and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in contemporary Ukraine, recounting their collaboration with Nazi Germany and violence against Ukrainians, Jews, Poles, and Soviet supporters.

Bogdan’s writings explicitly opposed the Russian invasion and the Putin government. Moreover, a state examination reportedly found no calls for the overthrow of the state, seizure of power, subversive acts, or alteration of Ukraine’s borders. Nevertheless, the court sentenced him to fifteen years. It also ordered the confiscation of his property and electronic devices and the destruction of socialist books, leaflets, and other political materials seized from him. This makes clear what is really at stake in the case. Bogdan is being punished not for assisting the Russian war effort, but for opposing the war from a socialist and internationalist standpoint, and for exposing the far-right Ukrainian government’s “national heroes” as Nazi collaborators.

Bogdan’s case is part of a wider assault on political dissent in both Ukraine and Russia. The defense of political prisoners such as Bogdan is inseparable from the fight against imperialist war and for the unity of Ukrainian and Russian workers against the forces that seek to divide and silence them.

In the United States, the Trump regime is likewise escalating political repression: protesters in the Prairieland ICE detention center case were prosecuted on terrorism charges and handed draconian sentences ranging from 30 to 100 years in prison, while the “Minneapolis 15”— including union members and other working-class activists — face federal conspiracy charges for organizing against ICE.

The growth of political repression internationally underscores the need for a united-front defense of political prisoners. Historically, Trotskyists have opposed political repression through mass defense campaigns that brought together different political and social forces around the defense of political prisoners. In the early 1970s, the Juan Farinas Defense Committee mobilized trade unionists, students, socialist organizations, and figures from the Black and Puerto Rican liberation movements through rallies, speaking tours, union resolutions, and pamphlets. Earlier, the 1941 prosecution of 29 members of the Socialist Workers Party and Minneapolis Teamsters Local 544 was met with a broad political defense campaign that turned the trial itself into a forum for challenging the government’s attack on socialist opposition to imperialist war.

We should draw on these traditions today. A united-front committee to defend political prisoners could bring together socialist, antiwar, labor, immigrant-rights, civil-liberties, and other organizations around concrete campaigns for prisoners like Bogdan. Such a committee would not require agreement on every political question; it would provide a framework for joint public meetings, rallies, union resolutions, educational work, and other actions. For Bogdan, this could include an international day of action at Ukrainian embassies and consulates. Building this kind of united-front defense can itself become a step toward rebuilding a broad antiwar movement.

Free Bogdan Syrotiuk. Drop the charges. Build a united-front campaign for his freedom.

The post Free Bogdan Syrotiuk: Defend a Socialist Imprisoned for Opposing Imperialist War appeared first on Left Voice.

From Left Voice via This RSS Feed.