He was a "double" of Belmondo and wasn't afraid to reveal the truth in the USSR: the story of journalist Marchenko and what is known about him.
Ukrainian journalist Valeriy Marchenko, like Stepan Khmara, was a dissident and spent many years in Soviet camps and exile. He died at the age of 38 due to a worsening chronic illness, as he did not receive adequate medical care.
"Telegraph" decided to investigate what happened to the well-known journalist Valeriy Marchenko, who became a symbol of protest and the struggle for Ukrainian identity. We discovered some interesting facts about his life.
What is known about Valeriy Marchenko
Journalist Valeriy Marchenko (born surname — Umrilov) was born in 1947 in Kyiv; he was the grandson of Soviet historian Mykhailo Marchenko. After finishing school, Valeriy became a student at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and during his studies, he interned at Baku State University, focusing on Turkic languages.
Starting in 1970, Valeriy began working at the newspaper "Literaturna Ukrayina," taught Ukrainian language and literature at a secondary school in Kyiv, and also published articles in Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
Valeriy Marchenko is often referred to as the "Ukrainian Belmondo" because he bore a striking resemblance to the famous actor in his youth. However, it was Jean-Paul Belmondo who received fame and fortune, while his "doppelgänger" faced imprisonment and exile for simply wanting to tell the truth.
0 In 1973, Marchenko was first arrested by the KGB for anti-Soviet propaganda and agitation, as unlike other journalists, Valeriy was not afraid to express his own thoughts. He was sentenced to six years in a strict regime colony and two years of exile. He bravely served his sentence and met other Ukrainian human rights defenders in the colony.
After his release, Valeriy refused to write a letter of repentance; he lived in Kyiv, worked as a night watchman, wrote publicistic articles, engaged in human rights activism, and sent protest letters condemning the totalitarian regime. In particular, Marchenko opposed the Ministry of Education of the Ukrainian SSR's directive "On the Strengthening of the Study of the Russian Language in Schools of Ukraine" and spoke out about the truth of Soviet concentration camps.
1 He was arrested a second time in 1983 and sentenced to 10 years in a special regime colony, as he was deemed a dangerous recidivist. However, even during his first sentence, the journalist's chronic kidney disease—nephritis—worsened, and he did not receive proper medical care. Valeriy understood that he might not survive another prison term.
How Valeriy Marchenko Died
After Marchenko arrived at the "Perm-36" colony, the doctors of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs concluded that he needed to be released from imprisonment due to an incurable illness. However, the KGB officials did not allow this to happen and effectively killed him.
The medications that his mother sent to him in prison were returned. To save her son, the woman even contacted "Radio Liberty" to report on Marchenko's health condition on air, but this did not help. Valeriy passed away on October 5, 1984, from nephritis. For a long time, they did not want to return his body to his mother to avoid protests in Ukraine.
2 The death of the Ukrainian dissident was acknowledged by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, Nobel laureate Heinrich Böll, and many other prominent figures. On October 13, 1984, his mother was returned her son's body; she buried him in the village of Hatne in Kyiv Oblast.
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