This week. after more than 42 years of Soviet imprisonment and internal exile. Mr. Shumuk was finally allowed to emigrate from the Soviet Union. Mr. Shumuk. now 73 years old. is a Ukrainian nationalist and writer who has spent more than half his life under arrest or in exile for his writings and his refusal to work as an informer for the KGB. This refusal earned him a 10year prison sentence in 1957 for "antiSoviet agitation and propaganda." When he was released from prison in 1967. he began to write his memoirs and on January 14. 1972. the KGB confiscated those memoirs and arrested him once again for "antiSoviet agitation and propaganda." He was sentenced to 10 years in a labor camp and 5 years in exile. With spirit unbroken and still confined to a labor camp. Danylo Shumuk joined the Ukrainian Helsinki Monitoring Group in February of The emigration of Danylo Shumuk this week is especially significant. Not only did he renounce his Soviet citizenship. but never did he admit guilt or promise not to engage in "antiSoviet activity" as have most other prisoners who have recently been released. The strength and courage of Danylo Shumuk serves as an example to us all of the suffering endured by so many in the name of humanity and freedom.
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