INJUSTICE — NEW RELIGION CAPABLE OF UNITING UKRAINIAN SOCIETY

Bohdan HNATOVSKY :

I met Ihor Bilozir some 20 years ago. My first article about him was published January 1, 1980. And we have met almost every day for the last couple of years. On May 8, a woman friend of mine celebrated her birthday at Tsisarska Kava. The guests were all from the intelligentsia: two schoolteachers, Ihor, me, and an Art Academy instructor. I started singing Ihor Bilozir’s “That’s not apple blossom, not May, not a late autumnal acacia, that’s a young white swan lost in winter...” A very nice lyrical song. Ihor was very good at lyrics.

Others at the table joined me. Just then a man with a guitar sat at a nearby table and struck off an old Russian prison song. A man sitting a couple of tables away stood up, walked over and said rudely in Russian, “Stop singing, let us relax and enjoy ourselves.” I stood up and said in Ukrainian, “What’s the matter? We are also here to rest and enjoy ourselves. See this man? He is Ihor Bilozir, People’s Artist of Ukraine, we are singing one of his songs.” There was a militia patrol close by, so the man challenging us returned to his table. After that Ihor walked over to that table and spoke to the people there. We were no longer in a festive mood and five or ten minutes later we left the cafe. I didn’t see who was the first to hit Ihor and when I turned I saw him fall to his knees. I lifted him with my left hand, holding a briefcase in the right one. Then someone hit me in the face, splitting my lip (I would have three stitches at the hospital). All this happened in front of the cafe. Ihor and I went home, walking down Shevchenko Ave. When we were 50-60 meters from the cafe, several steps from the Prosecutor’s Office, the two men that had sat at the cafe near us raced over. One wore a white shirt and the other a dark one. I was hit again and felt dizzy. Then I heard Ihor groan and fall, there was the sound of a blow and a crack (he was hit with brass knuckles). I fought back and then a militia patrol car stopped. They tore one of the attackers from my hands and then caught the one that had knocked Ihor down. Both were shoved in the patrol car and we were picked up by an ambulance. It was around 23.00 and the street was deserted. And it was dark. The street lamps were turned off.

The ambulance took us to the city emergency hospital. We had to wait for quite some time before doctors came. I had three stitches on my lip and Ihor needed an X-ray. I personally pushed the gurney up and down the hospital floors. He was in very bad shape but could move and tried to speak. After the X-ray (it must have been around four in the morning) I rolled him into a ward and placed him on a bed. After that I went home. The next morning I had a hard time getting through to Neurosurgery-1. Finally someone replied, “Sorry, sir. It’s a holiday and only the duty doctor is at the hospital, I don’t think anyone will tell you how your friend is doing.” I called Ihor’s home. No answer (his wife had left to visit with her parents). Had I known the outcome, I would have been more insistent, of course.

The attackers were taken to the district precinct. I am not sure, but word has it that both later returned to the cafe with some militiamen and had a nice time. The defendant rejects this and some witness insists this is precisely what happened. I don’t think there is anything else I can tell. The investigation is underway and I am a witness for the prosecution.

MILITIA COMMENTARY

The Day ’s Oleksandr Syrtsov asked Bohdan Vasylyk, deputy head of Lviv’s Regional Interior Department, for an official version of the tragedy.

B.V.: Criminal proceedings were started May 11, as per Article 206, Section 4 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, against Hnatovsky and Bilozir charged with hooliganism, and in conjunction with heavy bodily injuries inflicted on Ihor Bilozir, People’s Artist of Ukraine, as per Article 101, Section 1 of the CCU. The criminal case was opened by Halytsky RUGU. Considering the topical nature of the case, I ordered it be investigated by the regional law enforcement authorities. In the course of investigation it was established that acts of hooliganism and grave bodily injuries implicated Dmitri A. Voronov, b. 1972, and Yuri V. Kalinin, b. 1972. Voronov was taken into custody May 22 and he is currently in a detention cell. There is a warrant of capture out for Kalinin.

On May 28, after Ihor Bilozir’s death, Section 1, Article 101 of the CCU was substituted with Section 3: intentional gross bodily harm causing victim’s death, entailing up to 12 years in prison.

Voronov is 28 and has a family. His father is deputy chief of the city militia force in Lviv, with a service record of 25 years, who has done nothing except solve crimes and otherwise help the populace. I think what happened to his son should have no effect on his work in the militia. He filed a report and is now on leave of absence.

The case is causing unhealthy reverberations, because some want to capitalize on it politically, pretending they know more than the investigating authorities. We do not build evidence on hearsay, we work in accordance with the law.

The Day : Do you think the militia patrol, arriving at the scene when the conflict was just starting, acted professionally?

B.V.: As the patrol arrived the conflict did not look serious enough, just a quarrel. Everything happened by the cafe, remember? Strong emotions appeared later, something the patrol could not have foreseen. It was not an interethnic confrontation, although precisely this issue is being raised. There was a third party where people sang Russian songs, but nothing happened. Besides, no one knew at first the man was Ihor Bilozir, so there is no cause for describing everything as a deliberate act. One must not look for any undercurrents or political coloration in this scandalous incident. Let me tell you again, the conflict started as a bar brawl.

MEDICAL COMMENTARY

The following are excerpts from a report filed by the Municipal Emergency Hospital with the press center of the regional state administration, dated 05.19.2000.

“Ihor Y. Bilozir, 45, was brought by ambulance 05.09.2000 at 00.35, picked up on Shevchenko Ave. Trauma received 05.08.2000, inflicted by unidentified persons. Signed in at Neurosurgery-1 after being examined by duty neurosurgeon. Brain trauma and fractured right frontal bone diagnosed. May 9 registered in stable condition. Appropriate treatment prescribed and administered. Computer tomography performed May 10 at the regional diagnostic center, confirming previous diagnosis: brain trauma, fractured frontal and parietal bones, subarachnoidal hemorrhage.

“05.10.2000. Patient transferred to resuscitation ward for conservative medical treatment. Patient is conscious, showing signs of progress.

“05.15.2000. Patient registers cardiac malfunctions causing cardiac standstill at 06.00 on 05.16.2000.

“Patient resuscitated, but his condition remains critical, with signs of unstable hemodynamics. Patient is sustained by iron lung, with all vital functions under constant monitoring.

“Treatment is under constant control by leading regional and medical university experts.”

From the report dated 05.24.2000: “Emergency Hospital administration hereby informs that patient Ivan Bilozir’s condition remained critical May 22-24, 2000. The patient is comatose, unconscious, sustained by iron lung. Unstable hemodynamics, medically sustained. Medical treatment is administered in full measure and on the required scope.”

Ihor Bilozir died on the night of May 27-28. Zinovy Huzar, head of the health care department, Lviv City Council, told The Day the cause of death will be finally determined by forensic medical findings. As for local newspaper allegations about medical unprofessionalism, Mr. Huzar regards them as cheap sensationalism and “the interested party’s desire to place at least part of the blame on the hospital personnel.”

May 30, Ihor Bilozir was buried at the Lychakivsky Cemetery, not far from the grave of Volodymyr Ivasiuk. Some 150,000 joined the funeral procession.

RADICAL COMMENTARY (MOST POPULAR IN LVIV)

Ihor K ALYNETS , poet:

People felt they were humiliated as a nation, a humiliation we each of us struggle with single- handedly. The tragedy made the people aware of the solidarity they had lost. He was buried on Tuesday and 150,000 Lvivites walked out of their homes to join the funeral. Something Lviv hasn’t seen since the funeral of Metropolitan Sheptytsky in 1944. Now the Right and ultra-Right parties come out with resolute statements about putting things right in Lviv. We have been too soft, tolerant, democratic — spineless is the word — and allowed the Russian part of the populace too much. Every night Lviv turns into a Russian-speaking city. At times one forgets one is still in a Ukrainian city. The impression is that the Ukrainian state is doing its best to give Russian culture the wide road, leaving Ukrainian culture pushed to the curb. Lviv has nothing to boast today; the Galician Piedmont is gradually becoming a city dominated by Russian-language cultural products: Russian pop songs, Russian paperbacks, newspaper stands packed with Russian periodicals.

It was planned to mark the 10th anniversary of the first session of the democratic Regional Council that elected Viacheslav Chornovil its Chairman. The ceremony was to take place at the Opera House. I was among the deputies of that council, but I did not want to attend the ceremony because I thought we had lost everything we spoke about at the outset of Ukrainian democracy. But that day I learned about Ihor Bilozir’s death, so I did attend to address the people gathered by the Shevchenko statue. I told them an assassination had taken place and that all of us ordinary people were to blame, because we had connived at the Russification of Lviv. And the municipal authorities were also to blame, including the Mayor. I had on more than one occasion told him that Russian chauvinism was rampant in the city, but he did nothing to put an end to it. I said, rather categorically, that after what had happened the Mayor should resign as one that had catered to Russification in Lviv. There was nothing coincidental about Ihor Bilozir failing to find sponsors for a concert marking his Vatra group’s 20th anniversary, precisely when the city and regional authorities were busy making Russian pop stars welcome.

The next day the funeral organizing committee was formed. I was among its members. The committee prevailed on the Mayor to announce a day of mourning in Lviv. He did so reluctantly, saying a lot of other prominent figures died without announcing mourning. But in our case a man died a violent death, meaning that the announcement of mourning would be a political act. On The Day of the funeral we picketed the Prosecutor’s Office, demanding that Voronov Sr. be retired and that Russian music be banned at Lviv’s cafes.

I think that Bilozir was assassinated, because both Voronov Jr. and Kalinin knew very well who they assaulted and why; they hated people singing Ukrainian songs. Nor is it coincidental that the militia is not too active in looking for Kalinin. Under the circumstances, Voronov as the son of a ranking militia officer will be able to blame Kalinin for everything that happened when it comes to court hearings. But if they find Kalinin, Voronov will get his share of punishment.

Yuri V YNNYCHUK , writer (from an article carried by the newspaper Postup [Progress] 06.01.2000, signed by his pen name Observer Yuzio):

Bilozir’s murder by two brutalized Russkies with such meaningful last names, Voronov and Kalinin, is regarded as a public slap in our national face. Both are sons of the local Russkie elite. This elite sired the murderers, instilling in them hatred of everything Ukrainian; both knew only too well who they were killing. Our defiled national dignity cries for vengeance.

METAPHYSICAL COMMENTARY

Viktor M OROZOV , musician, composer, translator:

In our criminalized society somebody is constantly mugged, musicians included. Not so long ago a vocalist of the Picardy Tierce group was assaulted. The man was on his way home late in the evening. And the incident raised no hue and cry in Lviv, regarded as just another street crime. But what happened to Bilozir is a significant event combining a lot of peculiar things. A composer was killed because of his song. And all were instantly reminded of Ivasiuk’s murder that remains a mystery since 1979. That same year Bilozir joined Lviv’s Philharmonic Society. So what do we have? Ivasiuk dies, enters Bilozir who dies in the end just because his Ukrainian song prevents some Russian youths from relaxing and enjoying themselves. Another significant aspect is that the tragedy took place in Lviv, always regarded as a venue of Ukrainian culture. In other words, Russian expansion in Lviv was slowly but surely gaining in aggressiveness and an outburst of radical moods was due only to an excessive incident.

Dying for one’s song... If Ihor could see what happened after his death he would say something like “Holy Cow!” (he never used four- letter words). Therefore, I refuse to believe the allegations that what happened was because of alcohol consumption. He was an altogether different type, nothing like those that look for trouble after having had one too many. Naturally, people celebrating someone’s birthday at a cafe consume alcohol, but it was not the reason for the conflict. A song was.

I am sure there are no coincidences the way they are generally perceived. Often what is actually behind things that happen in one’s life can be understood years later. In this case I have a feeling that Ihor subconsciously sacrificed himself, so people — at least those living in Lviv — would rise from their sleep. By the way, one of his last songs written shortly before his death carries a symbolic title: “Rise from your Knees, My People!”

This violent death only served to reveal the moods that had long been brewing within society. Anyway, Lviv residents for once articulated their dissatisfaction with the cultural policy of the state; hence the demands for banning Russian-language radio and TV channels. Personally, I am convinced that nothing should be banned and that we must choose a different, smarter way. For example, under the Soviets, teachers of Russian received extra pay. That way, although no one prohibited anything, such incentive formed the public opinion about Russian being superior to Ukrainian. Likewise, the Ukrainian state should resort to incentives and privileges like tax concessions. Our culture badly needs protectionism at the state level. We all know that Canada protected itself from U.S. mass cultural onslaught only be enforcing rigid national product quotas on all radio and television networks, as Canadian mass culture was just being conceived. And the laws establishing such quotas were met with violent resistance. But now Canadian stars are known all over the world.

POLITICALLY ACTIVE COMMENTARY

Yuri N AZARUK , student at the International Relations Department, Lviv University, Young Diplomacy Center:

When people get killed in their native city for singing in their mother tongue it means the situation is horrible and others must respond to it. The Young Diplomacy Center held a news conference titled “Youth against Muscovites.” Its categoricalness was somewhat mitigated by the motto “Kill Muscovites not in the Street, but in Yourselves.” Our objective is in calling for youth to boycott Russian-language radio and TV companies, cafes and clubs where this language and Russian music are prevalent.

I am not saying that it was a contract murder for political reasons. It is an event that may trigger the development of Ukrainian culture in Ukraine. This event was just an explosion in a situation that has been aggravated as of late.

AESTHETIC COMMENTARY

Mykhailo B ARBARA , musician, head of the Dead Rooster group, chief editor of Radio New Wave Initiative:

I returned to Lviv on Monday, May 29, and immediately headed for the radio studio. Our phones were red hot with calls. Lviv was getting it off its chest, pouring out negative emotions against what was described as Zhuzhykiv- Zhulytsky bandit culture (which is 100% Russian language). Very few calls mentioned national culture. We received calls from Ukrainians, Russians, and Poles voicing indignation over the dominance of “criminal subculture” in Ukrainian society, in many respects blaming it for the Bilozir tragedy. Outraged, people blamed everything and everybody, ranging from municipal services to all sustained by the taxpayer’s money.

This is far from the first such outburst of unrestrained hostility but the most tragic one. Not so long ago a vocalist with the Picardy Tierce was mugged and the Dead Rooster frequently had problems with “Zhuzhyk” toughs after concerts in their home town. Taras Chubai (he works in Kyiv now) recalled such situations several times. I think this hostile response addresses any manifestations of Ukrainian intellectuality. At first, they looked down on “Ukrainian country bumpkins” and then suddenly realized that here was a different great culture, something they could not outdo. Hence their frustration venting the animal instinct to kill.

Ukraine today is a typical third- world country and all the picture lacks is poppy and hemp plantations along with drug barons (well, we have oil tycoons, haven’t we?). The rich and famous consider themselves members of a superior caste, the Untouchables (except that the name historically belongs to a category of people living in India that did not belong even to the lowest caste, the Sudras, being entirely outside the social order and limited to doing the most menial and unappealing tasks). In this horrible situation one is reminded of Yuri Shevchuk’s song: “Open your mouths, take off your hats, there are major boys marching in the street.” Laws, state and humane, are nonexistent for them. One positive aspect about the tragedy is that it made such social reverberations, for self- respect, national as well as personal, are at stake.

I never go to a cafe with bad music — I mean snazzy pop or prison camp stuff — because such music is not only irritating but also harmful. Head shrinkers say all signals received by our senses settle on the subcortex, meaning one can end up in the funny farm.

We would like to stage a gala concert to mark the 40-day anniversary of Bilozir’s death, with Ukrainian classical pop performers and young groups and Ivasiuk and Bilozir songs in the program.

PRACTICAL COMMENTARY

Oksana H ORELYK , press secre tary with the cultural-art center Dzyga, deputy manager of Radio New Wave Initiative:

The situation that has taken shape after Bilozir’s death sharpens a lot of cultural problems that are still to be solved. Radio New Wave, which appeared on the air only recently, tries to respond not with drawn-out debate and verbal battles but with practical deeds. Actually, we offer our listeners a new musical and aesthetic concept compared to what people usually hear on the radio. We play a lot of classical pieces and modern Ukrainian, Polish, European, and American compositions, mostly jazz and rock. And we willingly play Russian music, but for us it’s a matter of principle to play Time Machine or Aquarium rather than Aliona Apina. We ignore music lacking ambition and this applies not only to Russian pop compositions.

AUTHOR’S COMMENTARY

Civil wars are the most horrible events in the history of mankind and the most horrible reason for civil wars is the piling up of criteria dividing a given society into friends and enemies, when social factors turn into ethnic distinctions based on religion, language, etc. The murder in Lviv is an eye-opener on a social crisis embracing all aspects of human existence in Ukraine, ranging from the guarantee of life and health to the satisfaction of cultural needs. People seem never to have been so vulnerable. Ihor Bilozir tried to defend his cultural preferences and provoked a situation dreaded by most of us. God forbid crossing the path of those criminals sitting in high offices (who, unlike you and me, are prepared to defend even their “cultural values” with brass knuckles, knowing no one will punish them)!

However, the cultural-lingual aspect of Lviv’s ethnic unrest should not be regarded as a permanent entourage of any Galician problem. The first question I posed to all people I interviewed was how come Bilozir’s murder caused such a powerful outburst in the city, considering the overall political apathy of Ukrainian society? What rallied all those people? I heard a variety of answers that can be summed up as follows: universal belief in the unjust nature of all that has to do with the current regime in Ukraine and its senseless policy without an idea or ideology. In Lviv, where even notices over stores and cafes reflect inspired lingual relicts, there are people horrified at the notion of “Russian-speaking Lviv at night.” All I spoke with claimed Lviv is exposed to total Russification (largely because in its ten years of independence the Ukrainian state has not come out with a more or less rational concept of Ukrainianization). On May 30, Aleksandr Lyubimov, popular Moscow ORT host, said in the evening news release that “a well- known composer, Ivan [sic] Bilozir was beaten to death by young nationalists [sic] just as he sang his Russian [sic] songs at a Lviv cafe.” Apparently, the Russians would be hard put to picture a situation the other way around. But we know what it is like to live in a country without having a state of our own and having to rely only on our own resources. Photos by Serhiy SMYRNOV, Lviv

№019 June 13 2000 «The Day»
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