Veronika Cherkez Вероніка Черкез

I was in Kyiv when the Maidan began. I remember that my dad, back then… Clashes broke out on the Maidan, and they brought in those ‘titushki’. We live in a residential area, and they were parked there in their buses, just waiting. Lots of people came out then; I remember it was winter. My dad took me with him to Maidan, and I remember the smoke, the crowds – protests like that were truly massive. There were some hubs, like Automaidan. It all started there… There were loads of amazing things going on, and my dad took me with him to Maidan and told me, ‘For heaven’s sake, don’t tell Mum.’ There was shooting going on there, there were explosions, loads of police… There were clashes with the police.

At the start of 2023, we published an analysis entitled ‘The Nine Circles of Hell’, in which we compiled testimonies from people who had suffered in torture chambers and places of detention in the occupied territories. My own case was also included in this analysis. This is the testimony of Valerii Hrytsa. He is the head of our detached unit in the Kherson region. When Kherson was occupied, he found himself in the occupied territory. And, unfortunately, I don’t know how the Russian forces know about everyone, but they do know, sadly, and they came to his home, took him away and beat him very badly. Thank God they let him go. This case was included, and we also presented it to the international community; there were also testimonies from our partners who had gathered evidence from the Kherson penal colonies that were under occupation. Torture was also carried out on the prisoners there. A great deal of it.

I don’t understand how people can fail to realise that every person is born with rights; they have inalienable rights. We are all equal, and no one can violate another person’s rights. It has always been clear to me that this is what I want to do. I realised that there are a great many violations – unfortunately, there are a great many human rights violations. We come up against this every day, in all areas of life. Unfortunately, it’s very widespread in Ukraine. Why places of detention in particular? I’ve been a monitor for the National Preventive Mechanism for four years now, and I can see that, in reality, public perception of people in places of detention is very critical. And I also realise that, unfortunately, people still do not understand that these are individuals who have made a mistake, but they too have the right to access medical care and legal representation; they have rights as well. For me, this was a matter of principle, which is why I went on to study law at university and work in this field; I knew that I would need legal knowledge to do so.

Our whole family was actually involved in human rights work and community service. In Mariupol, they set up a charity called the ‘Club Future’; as I’ve already mentioned, they worked on anti-discrimination policies for people living with HIV, as well as many other areas. Incidentally, this organisation still exists today; they relocated to Kryvyi Rih and are based there now. My dad was also an active human rights activist; I remember he was often away on business trips – to America for conferences, and he was invited to a conference in South Africa as well.

I was born in Mariupol and lived there for 13 years; it really is an incredible city. It’s definitely my favourite city in Ukraine. It’s my home, which I’m sadly unable to return to at the moment. I had a happy childhood. I lived with my parents in the centre of Mariupol, near the famous Drama Theatre, in a one-bedroom flat. We weren’t rich, but it was brilliant, and every summer I’d go to my grandmother’s in the village. The village is called Maloyanisol – it’s a Greek village. In fact, there are lots of small villages near Mariupol where Greeks live, who were deported from Crimea by Catherine the Great. They still speak a Greek dialect and keep their traditions alive. There was a very large diaspora in Mariupol at that time, even before the full-scale invasion. Now, part of this diaspora has moved to mainland Ukraine, where they continue to organise projects and a great many events. Even here in Kyiv, we still attend the Panayir – it’s a Greek festival.