Yuriy Badze Ukrainian politician Date of Birth: 25.04.1936 Country: Ukraine

1. Biography of Yuri Badzyo
2. Early Life and Education
3. Dissident Activities and Imprisonment
4. Political Career and Later Life

Biography of Yuri Badzyo

Yuri Badzyo is a Ukrainian political figure, Soviet dissident, and founder of the Democratic Party of Ukraine (DemPU). He was born on April 25, 1936, in the village of Kopinovtsy in the Czechoslovakian land of Subcarpathian Rus (now Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine).

Early Life and Education

In 1958, Yuri Badzyo graduated from the philological faculty of Uzhhorod University. He then completed his postgraduate studies at the Institute of Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR in 1964. Following his studies, Badzyo worked as a teacher in various schools in Zakarpattia for three years. During this time, he also actively participated in political activities as a member of the Club of Creative Youth.

Dissident Activities and Imprisonment

Due to his involvement in various dissident actions, Badzyo was expelled from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1965 and subsequently lost his teaching position. As a result, he worked as a loader in a bakery. It was during this time that he began engaging in underground activities, such as distributing samizdat literature. In 1972, Badzyo started working on his major work, the book "The Right to Live". However, in 1977, the draft of "The Right to Live," which was almost completed, was stolen, and Badzyo had to start rewriting it.

In 1979, Badzyo was arrested for his dissident activities. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and five years of exile. He served his exile in the prison camps of Mordovia and Yakutia. In December 1988, Badzyo was released and moved to Kyiv, where he resumed his active political activities and began planning the creation of an opposition party to the CPSU.

Political Career and Later Life

By the spring of 1990, Badzyo developed a document called the "Manifesto of the Democratic Party of Ukraine." On May 14, 1990, a conference of the initiative group for the establishment of DemPU took place in Kyiv, during which Badzyo's manifesto was revised and adopted as the foundational document of the new party. At the founding congress of DemPU held on December 15-16, 1990, Yuri Badzyo was elected as the party's leader. He held the position of party leader until the next DemPU congress in December 1992. However, he declined to run for re-election, as he desired to step away from politics and focus on academic pursuits.

After Ukraine gained independence, Badzyo's manuscript of "The Right to Live" was returned to him, and it was published in 1996. On November 26, 2005, President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko awarded Yuri Badzyo the Order of Merit III degree. Currently, Badzyo works as a research fellow at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.