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Demand the freedom of Ukrainian socialist and anti-war activist Bogdan Syrotiuk!

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On Thursday April 25, Bogdan Syrotiuk – a socialist opponent of the fascistic Zelensky regime and the NATO-instigated Ukraine-Russia war – was arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine, the SBU, in his hometown of Pervomaisk in southern Ukraine.

Bogdan Syrotiuk

Bogdan, who is 25 years old and in poor health, is being held in a prison in Nikolaev under atrocious conditions on fraudulent charges of serving the interests of Russia. In fact, Bogdan is an intransigent opponent of the capitalist Putin regime and its invasion of Ukraine. He fights for the unity of the working class in Ukraine, Russia and throughout the former Soviet Union.

If found guilty by a kangaroo court of these charges, Bogdan is threatened with a prison sentence of 15 years to life, which is equivalent to a death sentence.

The arrest of Bogdan is the latest example of the Zelensky’s regime’s brutal repression of left-wing movements, whose opposition to the war is finding a growing response within the Ukrainian working class.

The International Committee of the Fourth International and the World Socialist Web Site call for a global campaign to demand the immediate release of Bogdan Syrotiuk. The fight for Bogdan’s freedom is an essential component of the struggle against imperialist war, genocide and fascism.

Sign the petition to help free Bogdan!

Voices of support
Free Bogdan Syrotiuk, Thank you David North for Exposing Zelensky for what he is.
Roger Waters, Pink Floyd
According to all the information available to me, the court proceedings and the conviction against Bogdan Syrotyuk are based on purely political premises. Such an approach must be firmly rejected! Bogdan Syrotyuk is an active Trotskyist. Even those who do not share his political stance should know that Leon Trotsky and his comrade-in-arms Christian Rakovsky, the first communist prime minister of Ukraine and later a victim of Stalin, both advocated a policy that amounted to an independent socialist Ukraine. At that time, the term Union of Soviet Socialist Republics meant nothing else. The persecution of Syrotyuk is harming Ukraine’s struggle for freedom today in the same way that the persecution of the Trotskyists, anarchists and Communist Party-Oppositionists during the Spanish war harmed the cause of the Spanish people.
Mario Kessler, Historian, Germany
It is clear that he has been arrested because the ruling Ukraine regime is engaged in suppressing his leftist and anti-war voice and oppressing the anti-war voices of workers and youths.Accordingly, our organisation urges Ukrainian authorities to immediately release Bogdan Syrotiuk and that they respect his democratic right to advocate for his anti-war views.
Siritunga Jayasuriya,General Secretary of the United Socialist Party, Sri Lanka
The Socialist People’s Forum in Sri Lanka strongly condemns the arrest and detention of Bogdan Syrotiuk, a leader of the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists which is an active Trotskyist organisation in the former Soviet Union including, in Ukraine and Russia. ...Further the Socialist People’s Forum believes that the reason for his arrest is that Syrotiuk was fighting for a global perspective against Zelensky’s and Putin’s capitalist ruling regimes and the complicity of the US and NATO in the brutal war which is being carried out and is destroying tens of thousands of lives of Ukrainian and Russian people.We consider that the imprisonment of the 25-year-old Comrade Bogdan on bogus accusations is not merely an anti-democratic attack on an individual but an attack on the international working class as a whole....
Dharmasiri LankapeliPolitical Committee, Socialist People's Forum, Sri Lanka
I strongly condemn this act of the Ukraine government. I demand the Ukraine government release our comrade unconditionally. Bogdan Syrotiuk did not do or say anything wrong. What he did was fight for the sake of the international working class. He fought and is fighting for workers’ power (soviets). We have to fight against such frame ups to protect the workers from injury. This is all the more necessary, as Bogdan’s health is not in good condition. And I appeal again for the release of our comrade Bogdan Syrotiuk.
Amarjeet, Jailed Maruti Suzuki worker, India
The Permanent Revolution Collective (CoReP) supports the demand for the immediate release of comrade Bogdan Syrotiuk, who has been arrested by the Ukrainian authorities for allegedly “supporting Russian interests” and faces a prison sentence of up to 15 years if convicted. In reality, the Ukrainian government and its secret service are persecuting Syrotiuk because he calls himself a Trotskyist and cooperates with the World Socialist Website (WSWS). Even though we have big differences with the Ukraine position of this current ...we defend Bogdan against the repression of the bourgeois state of Ukraine, as we defend all proletarian class war prisoners.
Permanent Revolution Collective in Austria, Argentina, France, Spain and Turkey
Free him immediately!! Warmongers should be questioned. World leaders should sit together and argue, not promote wars. Less spending on arms and wars. Spend on education, peace, health care, social issues. Bogdan wants this as well as all ordinary working people.
Vera from Hungary
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Combat Repression 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 a politically motivated persecution. In this regard, the human rights defenders of the Foundation for Combating Repression join the petition and call on the Ukrainian authorities to immediately release the young man from custody and drop all charges against him.
Foundation to Combat Repression, Russia
We, Youth for Change, the youth organisation of the Frontline Socialist Party in Sri Lanka, condemn the above-mentioned repressive actions of the Zelensky regime and demand the immediate release of our brother Bogdan Syrotiuk, who is facing hateful false charges!Moreover, we call upon youth around the world, revolutionary and progressive youth movements, and leftist parties to unite in the establishment of a revolutionary struggle and movement against the imperialist capitalist forces that are the architects of the Ukraine-Russia war!
International Committee of the Youth for Change, Sri Lanka
The deplorable detention of Comrade Bogdan by President Zelensky’s military camarilla is a crime against the international working class. We will not rest until he is freed. We will re-energise the motto of Big Bill Haywood amongst the world’s workers & youth—An injury to one is an injury to all! Hands off Bogdan Syrotiuk! Release Comrade Bogdan at once!
Simon from UK
While we do not share the views of the World Socialist Web Site, we express solidarity with the activist group [YGBL]. Let’s remember that repression in one country feeds repression in another and vice versa.
Rabkor.Ru, Russia
Bogdan’s jailing is part of the increasing repression of opposition to the brutal Ukrainian government as they try to send more Ukrainian workers to their deaths in the war against Russia. The war must be stopped and Bogdan released.
Stephen from Australia
Articles and speeches by Bogdan Syrotiuk
Bogdan Syrotiuk, April 2023
Recent developments in the campaign to free Bogdan Syrotiuk
Democratic rights under attack in Ukraine