Free Bogdan Syrotiuk!

To the Pervomaisk City District Court and the Nikolaev Court of Appeal:
24 August, 2026

We recently learned that Bogdan Syrotiuk, a socialist activist, was sentenced on 10 August to 15 years in prison for “high treason”, for allegedly expressing political opinions favorable to Russia with regard to the current military conflict. We strongly condemn this as a gross travesty of justice. Bogdan is being thrown in prison for expressing political views which are not approved by the leadership of the current reactionary regime in Kiev. His real “crime” is being a member of the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists who are connected with the World Socialist Web Site, which has published some of his articles. Holding socialist views in Ukraine today, and posting them on the internet is not treason by any reasonable standard.

It is not a crime to criticize the government of Ukraine.

It is not a crime to tell the truth about the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists of Stepan Bandera.

It is not a crime to oppose the war of Ukraine/NATO against Russia.

The fact that such opinions are criminalized in Ukraine demonstrates beyond doubt that the unelected rulers in Kiev are neither democratic nor legitimate. Those who act as NATO proxies by waging war on Russia are also waging war on the working people of Ukraine, which is why they desperately seek to suppress criticism from their political opponents on the left. This was also evident in the political repression of Mikhail and Alexander Kononovich, founders of the Association for the Defence of Political Prisoners and Human Rights. The Kononovich brothers were arrested in March 2022, tried four months later and then placed under house arrest. They were subsequently detained again in May 2025 on bogus charges of acting on behalf of Russia and posing a risk to state security.

Ukrainian society is being ravaged by capitalism and war. Those who struggle for a socialist future and an end to the bloodshed and depravity of the oppressive capitalist system are not criminals but heroes. Those who work to maintain the rule of the parasitic oligarchs and their foreign imperialist patrons are responsible for the massive loss of Ukrainian lives that have already filled the cemeteries. We salute the increasing numbers of workers in Ukraine who reject both the current reactionary regime in Kiev and its NATO-sponsored war against Russia.

Free Bogdan Syrotiuk! Overturn his unjust conviction!

Cathy Nason
On behalf of the Bolshevik Tendency

“The World Socialist Web Site urges its readers to add their names to the petition for Bogdan’s freedom. Write to the Pervomaisk City District Court at inbox@pm.mk.court.gov.ua and the Nikolaev Court of Appeal at inbox@mka.court.gov.ua, with a copy to freebogdan@wsws.org, demanding that the sentence be thrown out and Bogdan be freed at once.”