Levko Lukyanenko

He was born on August 24, 1928, in the village of Khrypivka, Chernihiv Oblast. For underground anti-Soviet activity, in May 1961 the Lviv Regional Court sentenced Lukianenko to death by shooting, but 72 days later the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence to 15 years of imprisonment. He served his sentence in Mordovia. After his release in 1976, Lukianenko became one of the founders of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, but in 1977 he was again sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment and five years of exile. The politician was released only in 1988.

In the era of Independence, Levko Lukianenko received the title of Hero of Ukraine and was a People's Deputy of four convocations of the Verkhovna Rada. In addition, he was the first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Canada and also headed the pardons commission under President Viktor Yushchenko. Lukianenko was also the author of the "Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine" and a laureate of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize in 2016.