Oleksii Murzhenko

Oleksii Hryhorovych Murzhenko (; 23 November 1942 – 31 December 1999) was a Ukrainian Soviet dissident and human rights activist. He spent a total of 22 years imprisoned in the Soviet Union on various political charges, including for founding a neo-Marxist underground group and as a result of his involvement in the 1970 Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair. Following his release in 1987, he immigrated to the United States, where he continued to advocate for human rights in Ukraine until his 1999 death from stomach cancer.

Early life and first arrest Oleksii Hryhorovych Murzhenko was born on 23 November 1942 in the city of Lozova in eastern Ukraine, in what was then the Soviet Union. After studying at Kyiv Suvorov Military School Murzhenko became a student at the Moscow Finance Institute. While in Moscow, he founded a neo-Marxist group of students known as the Union of Liberty and Reason. Murzhenko's co-founder as leader of the group was Yuriy Fyodorov, a Ukrainian and Russian Marxist who he would continue to collaborate with on dissident activities. The Union for Liberty and Reason primarily distributed leaflets to universities, libraries, and other such institutions throughout Moscow condemning the Soviet government.

Murzhenko was arrested on 3 March 1962 and charged with anti-Soviet agitation for establishing the Union of Liberty and Reason. On 20 June of the same year, he was found guilty and sentenced to six years of imprisonment at a camp in the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and returned to Lozova. Following the group's arrest, Murzhenko was charged with treason, theft of state property, anti-Soviet agitation and preparation of a crime.

Murzhenko was found guilty on all counts by a Leningrad court and sentenced to fourteen years of imprisonment as a "particularly dangerous recidivist". Murzhenko was recognised by international human rights non-governmental organisation Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience by June 1979.

Murzhenko was not released as part of a June 1979 prisoner swap between the Soviet Union and United States, as well as United States congressman Raymond J. McGrath, who both called for his release.

Third arrest and emigration Following his release, Murzhenko lived in Kyiv under a police guard. This would prove to be short-lived, however, as on 4 June 1985 he was again arrested and then to New York City in the United States in 1989. At 47 and having spent 22 years imprisoned, he was unable to find work and lived off of unemployment benefits. During this time, he occasionally was a writer for Ukrainian diaspora periodicals and a presenter for Radio Liberty.

Murzhenko died on 31 December 1999 from stomach cancer. He was buried in Bound Brook, New Jersey.