Human rights event in support of illegally imprisoned, captivated and missing journalists and artists was held in Kyiv for the Empty Chairs Day

The Empty Chairs event was held in Kyiv on November 15 in support of journalists, writers, human rights and cultural activists who went missing, illegally imprisoned or captivated in the course of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The human rights event was held on the Sophiiska Square in Kyiv by PEN Ukraine and the Center for Civil Liberties. The event was held with the participation of writers, journalists, and ex-illegally captivated activists, namely Maksym Butkevych, Dmytro Khyliuk, Lenie Umerova, Yuliia "Tayra" Paievska, Vladyslav Yesypenko. Their names were written on chairs during previous Empty Chairs events. This year, though, they are here with us, and this symbolizes hope for the return of everyone who is still illegally imprisoned.

In his speech, Vladyslav Yesypenko mentioned other media workers who are still held in captivity - among them, two friends of his, Halyna Dovhopola, the oldest among the illegally imprisoned, and Ivan Yatskin. He also told the stories of Oleksii Besarabov, Volodymyr Dudka and Dmytro Shtyblikov.

"These people must be here with us and do their job. Among the three of them, Dmytro Shtyblikov was sentenced to the shortest term of five years. He had to be released in 2021, but he never was. Instead, he was arrested again and sentenced to another term of 19.5 years. In fact, this means lifelong imprisonment. This is how Russia treats our journalists, and this we must be aware of," said Vladyslav Yesypenko.

Maksym Butkevych said that he had been organizing events in support of the Kremlin’s prisoners for 11 years, and he emphasized the importance of this work.

"Back in 2014, we stuck, hung or posted plaques with the names of Oleg Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Hennadii Afanasiev and many others on different venues. Of course, I had no idea then that I would be unaware of this one day because a plaque with my name would be stuck on such a chair too.

For me, the fact that I can be here myself today is a promise that our fellow citizens will return, but we must try our best for this. We must spread the word about them. For everyone in captivity, it’s important to be remembered," said he.

Lenie Umerova told the story of Bohdan Ziza and shared some information about the difficulties that residents of the temporarily occupied territories have to face.

"In 2022, when the world was horrified by the news from Bucha, no one on the occupied territories knew how to react. Because this is what Russia can do to them. Bohdan Ziza was not afraid. He protested the atrocities in Bucha by pouring blue and yellow paint on the building of Yevpatoriia city administration. Of course, Russia could not overlook something like this. Bohdan was arrested, charged of terrorism and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Many people in Crimea and other occupied territories try to stand up for truth. Russia cannot allow this, since it needs easily handled people. These people fight their daily fight for survival, for keeping aligned with their conscience and their dignity in this prison. And I know they will prevail. But we must help and support them, spread the word about them, write letters and call upon our authorities and international organizations to make them free," said Lenie Umerova.

Dmytro Khyliuk mentioned that the last time he attended the Empty Chairs Day was in 2021. Back then, he had no idea that four years later, he would not cover the event as a journalist but participate in it as an ex-prisoner.

"Unfortunately, the number of Russia’s civilian captives has increased since the beginning of the big war in 2022. I came here to express solidarity with those who are still held in Russian torture chambers. Some people have been imprisoned ever since 2014. We cannot make Russia release all civilians held in about 80 prisons across the country all the way to Siberia by force. But we can give maximum publicity to the evil that Russia does inside the country and especially abroad," said Dmytro Khyliuk.

Yuliia "Tayra" Paievska emphasized how important it was that captives would live to the day of exchange.

"We must press the point of Russia’s responsibility to follow the rules of treating POWs and illegally imprisoned civilians. If you see an empty chair, be it at home, in your office or a restaurant, please think of those who are still in captivity. I know nothing worse than captivity. Life is worth nothing without freedom. And everyone can contribute in making these people exchanged," said she.

The event was moderated by Maksym Sytnikov, executive director of PEN Ukraine, and Oleksandra Romantsova, executive director of the Center for Civil Liberties.

The attendants of the event honored the Ukrainians whose lives were taken away by Russia’s war against Ukraine with the minute of silence. Before that, the participants commemorated Ukrainian journalist and human rights activist Victoria Roshchyna who was tortured to death in Russian captivity.

A symbolic installation of empty chairs with the names of imprisoned, captivated and missing authors, artists, human rights and media activists who are not able to be with us due to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine lasting since 2014 was set up during the action. The chairs were partly filled with the plaques ‘Name Unknown’ because many names of imprisoned, captivated and missing Ukrainians remain unidentified.

We shall remind that, according to the data from the Institute of Mass Information, no less than 26 civilian Ukrainian media workers and 1 combatant journalist remain in the Russian imprisonment now. It is known about 14 cases of Crimean journalists and civic journalists sentenced by occupation courts to different terms in prison. Mostly they are Crimean Tatars. These are cases of Server Mustafaiev, Ernes Ametov, Asan Ahtemov, Tymur Ibragimov, Marlen Asanov, Seyran Saliev, Remzi Bekirov, Ruslan Suleymanov, Osman Arifmemetov, Rustem Sheikhaliev, Amet Suleymanov, Iryna Danylovych, Oleksii Bessarabov, and Vilen Temeryanov.

Overall, 119 media workers have been killed since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, in accordance with the data from the Institute of Mass Information. 15 of them have deceased while performing their professional duties, 14 – as civilian victims, and 90 more – as combatants.

According to the data from the Human Rights Ombudsman, over 16 thousand civilians are now illegally imprisoned in Russia and on the temporarily occupied territories. The real figures, though, might be many times greater. Meanwhile, as of late September 2025, the Register of Persons Missing under Special Circumstances contains information about over 70,000 people.

The organizers called for the attendants to become the voices of those who are being kept in prison and captivity by supporting human rights organizations’ information and advocacy campaigns, spreading the word about the violation of rights of POWs and illegally imprisoned civilians, writing letters etc.

By the initiative of PEN International, since the late 1980’s, November 15 has been recognized as the Day of the Imprisoned Writer or the Empty Chair Day. The empty chairs at human rights actions on this day became a symbol of the authors who can’t be with us due to imprisonment, persecution, disappearance or murder. In 2025, it was the sixth time that PEN Ukraine and Center for Civil Liberties held the Empty Chairs human rights event.

Event organizers: PEN Ukraine, Center for Civil Liberties.

The event took place with informational support from: Chytomo, Ukrainska Pravda, UP.Life, Ukrinform, hromadske, The Ukrainians Media.

Event partners: Institute of Mass Information, ZMINA Human Rights Center, Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, UHHRU, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, Reporters Without Borders.