The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) is disturbed by the opening of a case by the regional prosecutor in the City of Zamosc, Lublin Voivodeship, Poland, against Dr. Grzegorz Kuprianowicz, a historian, civil activist, Co-Chair of the Joint Commission of Government and National and Ethnic Minorities in Poland and President of the Ukrainian Association, following his speech during the dedication of the Sahryń memorial monument on 8 July 2018 in the village of Sahryń, Lublin Voivodeship. The participants of the event honoured the memory of over 600 residents of that village and surrounding areas, including 231 women and 151 children, who perished on 10 March 1944 at the hands of the Bataliony Chłopskie and some units of the Armia Krajowa.
In view of the fact that Lublin Voivode Przemysław Czarnek publicly mocked this solemn event and its participants, calling it “chutzpah”, “scandal” and “provocation”, and that he filed a complaint with the regional prosecutor in Zamosc and disparaged Dr. Grzegorz Kuprianowicz, the UWC President sent letters to the President and the Prime Minister of Poland on 10 August 2018 asking them to intervene in this matter and publicly denounce the inflammatory behavior by a Polish government official that seriously undermines Polish-Ukrainian relations in these troubled times when Ukraine is on the front line of a vicious hybrid aggression by the Russian Federation endangering the entire region.
As of today, Dr. Grzegorz Kuprianowicz is being investigated by the regional prosecutor in Zamosc.
In addition, on 30 August 2018, the Head of the Institute of National Remembrance of Poland removed Dr. Grzegorz Kuprianowicz from the Lublin Voivodeship Committee for the Protection of Remembrance, Struggle and Martyrdom despite the fact that on 23 August 2018 this Institute declared that it would not pursue an investigation of Dr. Grzegorz Kuprianowicz’s comments on 8 July 2018.
The UWC calls upon Polish authorities to ceaseall actions against Dr. Grzegorz Kuprianowicz that only fuel animosity between the Polish and Ukrainian peoples.
“The Ukrainian World Congress reiterates its call for the reconciliation of the historical wounds of the Ukrainian and Polish peoples, as opposed to actions that help the Russian Federation to weaken the ties that exist between them with the goal of reasserting control over both sovereign nations,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij.
