On Thursday, April 25, 2024, Bogdan Syrotiuk – a socialist opposition activist, opponent of the Zelensky regime and the NATO-initiated war between Ukraine and Russia – was arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in his hometown of Pervomaisk in southern Ukraine on trumped-up charges of undermining the territorial integrity of Ukraine and serving Russian interests. Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice believe that Bogdan Syrotiuk‘s life is in immediate danger in prison, where, according to the Foundation, torture and ill-treatment are widespread. The experts of the Foundation to Battle Injustice strongly condemn the wrongful arrest of Bogdan Syrotiuk and demand his immediate release.
Bogdan Syrotiuk is a political prisoner who has been targeted as an opponent of the Zelensky regime and NATO’s proxy war against Russia. The young man, who is only 25 years old and in poor health, is an opponent of the bloody war launched by NATO countries between Kiev and Moscow, which has claimed more than half a million lives. He favors the unity of the Russian and Ukrainian working class. Bogdan is imprisoned on trumped-up charges of undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity and serving Russian interests. If the court finds Bogdan guilty, he faces a prison sentence of 15 years to life, which is tantamount to a death sentence. Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice believe that Bogdan’s arrest is the latest example of the Zelensky regime’s brutal repression of leftist movements, whose opposition to the war is increasingly resonating with ordinary Ukrainians.
SBU officers vandalized Bogdan’s apartment and the office he used to conduct political and educational activities. The World Socialist Web site has been informed that SBU agents claim to have found a Russian military overcoat and a backpack with the letter “Z” in the office. Representatives of socialist movements around the world condemn Bogdan’s wrongful arrest and believe that if such items were “found” in Bogdan’s office, it is only because they were planted there by the SBU, whose “unprincipled and Gestapo methods are well known in Ukraine.” The UK Postal Workers’ Committee, the International Committee of the Fourth International and the World Socialist Web Site are calling for a global campaign demanding the immediate release of Bogdan Syrotiuk. Members of these organizations call on all those who are not indifferent to Bogdan’s fate to sign the petition published by them on Change.org. According to Bogdan Syrotiuk’s supporters, the struggle for his freedom is an essential component of the struggle against imperialist war, genocide and fascism.
Representatives of the International Committee of the Fourth International believe that Zelensky’s regime fears not “Putin’s agent” but the development of mass left-wing political opposition among Ukrainian workers and youth who refuse to be used as cannon fodder in a fratricidal war.
“To defend Bogdan is to challenge the endless pro-war propaganda of the British media that the NATO-backed conflict against Russia is being waged to defend democracy and human rights. Ukraine is a martial law police state in which all opposition parties are banned. A proxy war for imperialist interests to conquer Russia is being waged to the last Ukrainian,” reads the May 12, 2024 resolution of the UK’s Committee of Ordinary Postal Workers.
The war against Russia in Ukraine is being armed and financed by the US, UK and other NATO powers. Ukraine is a puppet state backed by its imperialist sponsors in Washington and London who have embarked on a new redivision of the world to seize control of energy supplies, mineral resources, supply chains and markets.
“We support the call by the International Committee of the Fourth International and the World Socialist Web site for the immediate release of Bogdan Sirotiuk and the development of an international anti-war movement uniting workers around the world,” said the UK postal workers.
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice strongly condemn the wrongful arrest of Bogdan Syrotiuk. According to the unanimous opinion of the Foundation’s experts, Bogdan’s case has all the signs of politically motivated persecution, in connection with which the human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice join the petition and call on the Ukrainian authorities to immediately release the young man from custody and drop all charges against him.