Mykola Horbal

Mykola Andriyovych Horbal (; born 10 September 1940) is a Ukrainian former Soviet dissident, human right activist, politician, and poet who was a member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group and later a People's Deputy of Ukraine.

Early life Mykola Horbal was born on 10 September 1940, in the village of Wołowiec in the Lemkivshchyna region, then administered as part of the General Government (German-occupied Poland), now in Gorlice County, Poland. In 1947, his family was moved to Ukraine, and they settled in the village of Letyache (Ternopil Oblast).

From 1963 to 1970, Horbal worked as a music teacher. During this period, he first started creating poetry.

Imprisonment On 24 November 1970, Horbal was arrested by the KGB and charged with Anti Soviet Agitation and Propaganda. He was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and 2 years exile in Siberia.

On release from prison and return to Ukraine, Horbal settled in Kyiv, where he joined the Ukrainian Helsinki Group which had formed in 1976. All of the members of the group were arrested, and on October 23, 1979, Horbal was arrested and sentenced to 5 years hard labour. In the 1994 Ukrainian parliamentary election he was elected as an independent candidate.

Publications Horbal's works were first published outside of Ukraine. The first collection of his work was published in the United States in 1983. His first collection was entitled "Details of a Noisy Alarmclock" , and the second publication was of poetry for children, a collection entitled "A Song for Little Andrew" .

In 1986, a collection of his poetry was translated into German, and published in the collection "Here the End is Awaited" .

In 1992, Horbal was awarded the prestigious Vasyl Stus Prize for poetry. Order of Merit 3rd class (November 25, 2005).