Dansk PEN til Jeppe Kofod: fordøm den manglende retssikkerhed i Tyrkiet

Den tyrkiske journalist Can Dündar blev kort før jul idømt 27 år og seks måneders fængsel ved en domstol i Istanbul. Dündar var i 2015 chefredaktør for den uafhængige avis Cumhuriyet, og sammen med kollegaen Erdem Gül afslørede han at den tyrkiske efterretningstjeneste MIT leverede våben til de syriske oprørere.

Han blev fængslet og anklaget for spionage og støtte til en terrorbevægelse, men blev midlertidigt løsladt og rejste herefter til Tyskland, hvor han har opholdt sig siden. I december 2019 modtog han PL-fondens frihedspris i København. Dansk PEN har fulgt sagen mod Can Dündar siden 2015 og flere gange protesteret mod anklagerne.

Læs her PENs seneste protest over dommen, sendt til den tyrkiske justitsminister Bekir Bozdag:

Minister of justice Bekir Bozdag 30.12.2020

Og her en appel fra PEN til udenrigsminister Jeppe Kofod om at fordømme den manglende retssikkerhed i Tyrkiet:

Udenrigsminister Jeppe Kofod

Fængslede Forfatteres Dag 15. november

Vi plejer at markere den årlige Internationale Fængslede Forfatteres Dag 15. november på Dansk PENs stand på Bogforum, men som så meget andet er også det i år anderledes. Nu bliver det i stedet  på de sociale medier.

Fængslede Forfatteres Dag er en mulighed for at skabe opmærksomhed omkring PENs arbejde for skribenter der chikaneres, trues og fængsles for i forbindelse med deres litterære arbejde, at have gjort brug af retten til frit at ytre sig. Vi bruger dagen til at skubbe til de regeringer, der fængsler og censurerer kritiske skribenter, men også til at udtrykke støtte til dem, der er fængslede, forsvundet eller er genstand for urimelige retssager.

I år sætter PEN-kolleger verden over fokus på fem sager:

Paola Ugaz, peruviansk undersøgende journalist og non-fiktion forfatter. Ugaz er anklaget for ærekrænkelse i forbindelse med en bog hun har været medforfatter til i 2015, som afslører seksuelle, psykiske og fysiske overgreb indenfor den religiøse organisation, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. #PaolaUgaz

Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, ugandisk romanforfatter og journalist. Rukirabashaija er forfatter til romanen, The Greedu Barbarians, der handler om korruption på højt niveau i et opdigtet land. Hans seneste bog, Banana Republic: Where Writing is Treasonous handler om da han i april 2020 blev tilbageholdt og udsat for tortur, udført af regeringens sikkerhedsfolk. De hævdede det havde med Covid19-epidemien at gøre, men de afhøringer han var igennem drejede sig om hans roman. Han blev arresteret igen i september 2020 og løsladt, men er anklaget for at have opildnet til vold og sekterisme og afventer retssagen. #FreeKakwenza

Osman Kavala, tyrkisk forlægger, menneskerettigheds- og demokratiaktivist. Tilbageholdt siden oktober 2017, uden at der på noget tidspunkt er fældet en dom. Han blev i første omgang anklaget for at have opildnet til optøjer under de såkaldte Gezi Park-demonstrationer i 2013. Disse anklager blev imidlertid frafaldet i februar 2020, men han blev ikke løsladt og i oktober 2020 kom det frem at der var rejst nye anklager mod ham, dels for at true statens sikkerhed, dels for spionage. Den første anklage kan give dødsstraf, mens den anden anklage kan give 20 års fængsel. Retssagen er ikke berammet og Kavala er fortsat tilbageholdt. #FreeOsmanKavala

Chimengül Awut, uighurisk redaktør og digter. Awut har et omfattende forfatterskab bag sig. Hun udgav sine første digte i 1987, i en alder af kun 14 år. Hun blev arresteret i 2018 og sendt til en genopdragelseslejr i Xinjiang, uden forudgående retssag eller dom. Formentlig knytter det sig til en uighurisk- sproget roman, The Golden Shoes, af den uighuriske forfatter Halide Isra’il, der ligeledes er tilbageholdt i Xinjiang-genopdragelseslejren. Selvom Awut ikke er fundet skyldig i noget kriminelt, så er der ingen oplysninger om hvornår hun vil blive løsladt. #ChimengulAwut

Sedigeh Vasmaghi, iransk teolog, digter og kvinderettighedsaktivist. Vasmaghi er en af meget få kvinder, der underviser i islamisk ret. Hun har skrevet bøger om teologiske, politiske og sociale emner. Hun har i mere end ti år været under konstant overvågning og har været udsat for omfattende chikane. Hendes bøger er forbudt i Iran. I august 2020 blev Vasmaghi i dømt et års fængsel for at have skrevet under på en protest mod politiets brutale adfærd overfor en gruppe demonstranter. Dommen lægges oveni en tidligere suspenderet dom fra 2017, der dømte hende til fem års fængsel. I oktober 2020 blev den samlede dom på seks års fængsel stadfæstet. Hun venter nu at blive hentet til afsoning. #SedigehVasmaghi

Fængslede Forfatteres Dag 2020

Fængslet menneskerettighedsadvokat Nasrin Sotoudeh alvorligt syg

Seneste nyt: 10. november 2020 blev Nasrin Sotoudeh midlertidigt løsladt på grund af svigtende helbred. Dommen fastholdes.

Den anerkendte iranske menneskerettighedsadvokat og forfatter Nasrin Sotoudeh, der afsoner 38 års fængsel for at have protesteret mod dødsstraf og forsvaret kvinders ret til ikke at bære tørklæde i det offentlige rum, er alvorligt syg, men får ikke den lægelige behandling hun behøver. Oveni risikerer hun at blive smittet af Covid-19 i fængslet.

Dansk PEN har flere gange protesteret over dommen som vi mener er dybt uretfærdig. Vi har gentagende gange opfordret de iranske myndigheder til at løslade Nasrin Sotoudeh straks og uden yderligere betingelser.

Seneste appel kan læses her: Ayatollah Khamenei_21.10.2020

Free Raif Badawi

Den 17. juni er det otte år siden den saudiarabiske blogger Raif Badawi blev fængslet. Han blev siden dømt til ti års fængsel, 1000 piskeslag, en millionbøde og udrejseforbud fra Saudi Arabien, når han engang kommer fri. Hans kone Ensaf Haider og parrets tre børn lever i dag i eksil i Canada. Familien har ikke været samlet siden Raif Badawi blev arresteret.

I årene 2015 til 2017 demonstrerede Dansk PEN hver torsdag foran den Saudi Arabiske ambassade i København sammen med Amnesty International. Siden har vi hver uge sendt et postkort til ambassaden med påskriften: Enough is Enough! Free Raif Badawi.

Derudover markerer vi hvert år den 13. januar, der er Raif Badawis fødselsdag og årsdagen for de første 50 piskeslag, og den 17. juni, årsdagen for hans fængsling,  ved at sende et brev til Kong Salman med en opfordring til at give Raif Badawi amnesti. I dag er ingen undtagelse.

Letter to His Majesty King Salman – 17. June 2020

De tyrkiske fængsler er en ren smittecentral: Løslad de politiske fanger

De tyrkiske myndigheder påtænker at løslade en række fanger fra fængslerne; gravide, ældre og syge samt en række kriminelle fanger.

Det er naturligvis fornuftigt, da fængslernes sanitære forhold er elendige, cellerne er overbelagte og adgangen til medicin og lægehjælp er stærkt begrænset. Risikoen for smitte med coronavirus er alarmerende høj.

Desværre er journalister, forfattere og menneskerettighedsforkæmpere, der er sigtet efter den tyrkiske terrorlovgivning, ikke omfattet.

I en fælles erklæring til de tyrkiske myndigheder skriver Dansk PEN, sammen med 26 andre internationale ytringsfriheds- og menneskerettighedsorganisationer:

“We, the undersigned, call on the government and Parliament to respect the principle of non-discrimination in the measures taken to lessen the grave health risk in prisons. The effect of the draft law is to exclude certain prisoners from release on the basis of their political views. Thousands of people are behind bars for simply exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Now they are also faced with an unprecedented risk to their health. According to its commitments under international human rights law, Turkey is under a clear obligation to take necessary measures to ensure the right to health of all prisoners without discrimination.

We invite Turkish authorities to use this opportunity to immediately release unjustly imprisoned people, and give urgent consideration to the release of those who have not been convicted of any offence and those who are at particular risk in prison from a rapidly spreading disease in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions where their health cannot be guaranteed.”

Læs hele opråbet her:

Turkey_Urgently release imprisoned journalists and writers now at risk

Løslad den tyrkiske forfatter Ahmet Altan

Free speech and human rights organisations call for Turkish novelist Ahmet Altan, Nazlı Ilıcak and other journalists to be released

Ahead of the second hearing in the retrial of Turkish novelist Ahmet Altan, Nazlı Ilıcak and four other journalists and media workers, ARTICLE 19 and 16 free speech and human rights organisations call for all detained defendants to be released and for the charges to be dropped. We believe that the charges against Altan and the other defendants are politically motivated and the case should never have gone to trial.  We believe that the new charges are also bogus, as no credible evidence has been presented linking the defendants to terrorism.

Altan and Ilıcak have been in pre-trial detention for over three years on bogus charges. They were initially charged with sedition and are now being re-tried on terrorism charges following a decision by the Supreme Court of Appeals. The final prosecutor’s opinion has been published ahead of the hearing on Monday 4 November, revealing that the prosecutor will ask for the judge to sentence significantly above the minimum required sentence for these offences. If the judge rules in line with the Prosecutor’s opinion, this will mean that the defendants will remain in detention during the appeals process which could take many more months. The on-going violation of their rights is a damning indictment of the state of Turkey’s judicial system, which has been placed under immense political pressure since the failed coup of July 2016.

We have serious concerns regarding the panel of judges overseeing this retrial. It will  be presided over by the same judge who oversaw the first trial, which involved several violations of the right to a fair trial and according to the Bar Human Rights Committee,  “gave the appearance of a show trial”.  The same panel of judges also previously refused to implement the Constitutional Court and European Court of Human Rights rulings that Mehmet Altan’s rights had been violated by his pre-trial detention, sparking off a constitutional crisis.

With the Constitutional Court failing to find a violation in the case of Ahmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak in May 2019, we look to the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) for justice. In 2018, the Court found several violations of Mehmet Altan’s rights. The Court also said that it would keep the effectiveness of remedies before the Constitutional Court under review. Altan and Ilıcak have now spent over three years in pre-trial detention. If the judge rules on Monday in line with the Prosecutor’s final opinion, they will be condemned to an even longer period of unjustified detention. By January 2020, their applications before the Strasbourg Court will have been pending for three years. A judgment from the European Court of Human Rights on their cases is now crucial.

Signatories

ARTICLE 19

Articolo 21

Danish PEN

English PEN

European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)

Freedom House

German PEN

Global Editors Network (GEN)

IFEX

Index on Censorship

Norwegian PEN

P24 – Platform for Independent Journalism

PEN America

PEN Canada

PEN International

South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)

Swedish PEN

 

About the case

The retrial in the case of writers and media workers Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan, Nazlı Ilıcak, Yakup Şimşek, Fevzi Yazıcı and Şükrü Tuğrul Özşengül began on 8 October 2019, after the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned their convictions of “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order through violence and force” under Article 309 of the Turkish Penal Code, for which they had been given aggravated life sentences. The Supreme Court of Appeals found that there had been no evidence of their use of “violence and force” and that Mehmet Altan should be acquitted entirely due to lack of sufficient evidence. The charges for the other five defendants were reduced: Ahmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak face new charges of “aiding a terrorist organisation” while Yakup Şimşek, Fevzi Yazıcı, Şükrü Tuğrul Özşengül face charges of “membership in a terrorist organisation”. Their re-trial, on new charges, began in October 2019 and the second hearing, at which the judge may rule on the case is on November 4, 2019.

Freedom of expression in Turkey

Under President Erdogan’s rule, freedom of expression has severely declined in Turkey. Over the last four years at least 3,673 judges and prosecutors have been dismissed and the judiciary effectively purged of anyone who is perceived as opposing the government through the exercise of freedom of expression. Around 170 media outlets have been closed down over claims they spread “terrorist propaganda”. Only 21 of these have been able to reopen, some of them however being subject to major changes in their management boards. Turkey has become the world’s biggest jailor of journalists with at least 121 journalists and media workers currently in prison and hundreds more on trial.

FN’s Menneskerettighedsråd bør reagere på Tyrkiets overgreb på journalister

03 September 2019

Re: To Human Rights Council Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council, to raise the ongoing crisis for freedom of expression in Turkey

Excellencies,

Ahead of the 42nd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), we, the undersigned human rights and journalists’ organisations, call on your delegation to speak out and address the Turkish government’s repressive campaign against freedom of expression. The Council must not continue to ignore such a blatant violation of Turkey’s international human rights law obligations and commitments.

The situation for freedom of expression in Turkey is now critical, as outlined in a joint submission on freedom of expression to the UPR of Turkey by civil society(1).  The right to hold and express dissenting opinions and to access information has been systematically undermined by the Turkish government in an intensive crackdown on journalists and independent media, academics, civil society, oppositional voices and the judiciary. Since 2016, the human rights situation in Turkey has steeply declined, facilitated by the misuse of sweeping emergency powers and the concentration of executive power. At the time of writing, at least 138 journalists and media workers are imprisoned, with hundreds more currently on trial facing lengthy sentences on manifestly unfounded terrorism charges. At least 170 media outlets have been closed down over claims they spread “terrorist propaganda”. Access to thousands of websites and platforms has been blocked after a government decree authorising removals and blockages of websites without judicial oversight.

This catalogue of human rights violations is an affront not only to the Turkish Constitution and international obligations, but also flies in the face of the standards this Council has adopted, in particular on the Safety of Journalists (HRC Res 39/6) and on the Internet and Human Rights (HRC Res 38/7).

In a follow-up report to the HRC in June 2019, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression informed the Council that there had been a “lack of effective efforts by the State to implement the recommendations made” following his November 2016 country visit. In several areas, he found that the government was taking action “directly contrary” to the recommendations made(2)  Ahead of Turkey’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review(3) the time to put the government on notice that it must change course, or face an intensification in international scrutiny is now.

All Member and Observer States committed to media freedom, democracy and the rule of law, must speak out during the Council’s 42nd Session(4).

Yours Sincerely,

ARTICLE 19

P24: Platform for Independent Journalism
International Press Institute
IFEX
PEN International
German PEN
Swedish PEN
Danish PEN
English PEN
Norwegian PEN
International Federation of Journalists
European Federation of Journalists
Index on Censorship
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom
Cartoonists Rights Network International
Global Editors Network
Articolo 21
Vienna South East Europe Media Organisation

 

Notes:

  1. Turkey will be considered at the 35th Session of the Working Group in January 2020, and therefore the 42nd Regular Session of the HRC is an important opportunity to demonstrate concern to Turkey over the situation for freedom of expression in the country. See: Joint submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Turkey by ARTICLE 19, P24, PEN International, English PEN, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF), International Press Institute (IPI), Freemuse, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), IFEX and Norsk PEN, July 2019; Available at: https://www.article19.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Turkey-UPR-submission_July2019.pdf
  2. See, for example: ‘Follow-up on country visits – Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression’, A/HRC/41/35/Add.2; Available at: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/41/35/Add.2
  3. Ibid., n.1.
  4. In addition to General Debates under Items 2 and 4, States may also speak out during the Interactive Dialogue with the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (Item 3).

Rami Sidky, egyptisk guitarist, fængslet for en sang han intet har med at gøre.

Rami Sidky, fængslet egyptisk musiker

Den egyptiske guitarist Rami Sidky blev i maj 2018 arresteret, og har været tilbageholdt i Tora-fængslet i Kairo lige siden.  Der er endnu ikke rejst sigtelse mod ham, og hvad han anklages for er mildt sagt uklart. Antageligvis er han fængslet for at have medvirket til udgivelse af en sang, der kritiserer den egyptiske præsident. Problemer er bare, at han intet har haft med den pågældende sang at gøre.

Rami Sidky har tidligere arbejdet sammen med en anden egyptisk musiker, den internationalt anerkendte rapper Rami Essam, der nu er i eksil i Europa. De to har ikke arbejdet sammen siden 2013, da Rami Sidky forlod deres fælles band, fordi han ikke brød sig om den retning deres musik var ved at tage.

Rami Essam offentliggjorde i december 2017 en musikvideo på YouTube, hvor han synger en rap-tekst, Bahala, skrevet af digteren Galal El-Behairy.  Galal El-Behary blev i januar 2018 idømt tre års fængsel for en samling digte, som han selv har kaldt en hyldes til kvinden, som aldrig er udgivet. PEN antager at det snarere er den sangtekst, som Rami Essam har sat musik til og offentliggjort,  der har udløst dommen over Galal El-Behairy.

Galal El-Behairy er æresmedlem af Dansk PEN.

 

PEN International – Fængslede Forfatteres Dag 15. november

Hvert år markerer PEN verden over den 15. november, der er den internationale Day of the Imprisoned Writer. Det sker ved at fremhæve nogle af de triste og grumme sager, der optager os året igennem.

I år har International PEN valgt at trække fem sager frem i lyset, fra henholdsvis Eritrea, Mexico, Rusland, Bangladesh og Egypten. Der er desværre flere hundrede at tage af, fordelt over det meste af kloden.

Her nedenfor er en kort præsentation af de fem fængslede, forsvundne eller myrdede forfattere.

Wael Abbas er en anerkendt egyptisk forfatter og politisk aktivist. I maj 2018 blev han arresteret af en gruppe bevæbnede soldater, der stormede hans hus, bandt ham for øjnene og tog ham med. Han er anklaget for at have ”tilsluttet sig en terrororganisation”, at have ”spredt falske nyheder” og at have ”benyttet internettet til at propagandere for en terrororganisations ideologi”. Siden anholdelsen er retssagen mod Wael Abbas gentagende gange blevet udsat, senest den 16. oktober, hvor retten forlængede detentionen med yderligere 45 dage. PEN er overbevist om, at anklagerne mod Wael Abbas alene er knyttet til hans regeringskritiske artikler og fredelige, aktivistiske arbejde.

 

Dawit Isaak, en prisvindende svensk-eritreisk journalist og forfatter, der i mere end 17 år har været tilbageholdt uden dom i Eritrea. I et interview fra 2016 hævdede Eritreas udenrigsminister, at de alle journalister, der blev fængslet efter regeringens voldsomme angreb på landets uafhængige medier i 2001, fortsat er i live. Regeringen har imidlertid ikke fremlagt nogen form for beviser. Der er med andre ord intet kommet frem om hvor Dawit Isaak befinder sig, og familien har ikke haft kontakt med ham i alle disse år. Eritrea er et af de værste lande i verden, når det gælder fængsling af forfattere, journalister og andre regeringskritiske stemmer. PEN International er bekendt med mindst 17 journalister, der er forsvundet eller som tilbageholdes uden kontakt til omverdenen. Nogle af dem menes at være døde, som følge af de forfærdelige forhold, der er i de eritreiske fængsler.

Miroslava Breach Velducea, en erfaren mexicansk journalist, blev skudt udenfor sit hjem i Chihuahua den 23. marts 2017. Igennem tyve år havde hun skrevet om sociale forhold, korruption og politik. Hendes seneste artikel beskrev en forbindelse mellem narkokarteller og lokale politikere. I december 2017 arresterede Politiet en person med tilknytning til Sinaloa kartellet, som de hævder står bag drabet på Miroslava Breach Velducea. Andre, som menes at have været involveret i drabet, er fortsat på fri fod. Mexico er fortsat det farligste land i verden at arbejde som journalist i. Siden 2004 er mindst 96 forfattere og journalister blevet myrdet, og yderligere 11 er forsvundet. Alene i 2018 er mindst seks journalister blevet dræbt i forskellige dele af landet.

 

Oleg Sentsov, ukrainsk filmmand og forfatter, der afsoner en dom på 20 års fængsel i et højsikkerhedsfængsel i Sibirien, tusindvis af kilometer fra sit hjem og familie. Han nægtes enhver form for brevveksling med omverden. Oleg Sentsov menes at være blevet udsat for tortur forud for retssagen, hvor en russisk militærdomstol dømte ham for terrorisme, på baggrund af en helt igennem uretfærdig retssag. I juni 2018 indledte Oleg Sentsov en sultestrejke, for at få frigivet alle de ukrainske, politiske fanger, der befinder sig i russiske fængsler. Han havde sultestrejket i 145 dage, da de russiske fængselsmyndigheder den 6. oktober begyndte at tvangsfodre ham. Det er PENs opfattelse, at Oleg Sentsov alene er dømt for sin modstand mod den russiske annektering af Krim-halvøen.

 

Shahidul Alam er fotograf, forfatter og aktivist fra Bangladesh. Den 5. august 2018 blev han hentet af civile betjente i sit hjem i Dhaka. Kort forinden havde han ladet sig interviewe til Al Jazeera, og havde her kritiseret regeringens håndtering af en række studenterprotester for bedre lovgivning om trafiksikkerhed. Protesterne opstod efter at to studerende, den 29. juli, blev kørt ned og dræbt af en bus. Shahidul Alam er anklaget for at have fremsat ”provokerende bemærkninger” og ”falske oplysninger” efter den drakonisk hårde lov om Information, Kommunikation og Teknologi (ICT Act) fordi han kritiserede, at myndighederne skød med tåregas og gummikugler mod de studerende. Retten har nægtet Shahidul Alam løsladelse mod kaution, og han er derfor fortsat fængslet uden dom. Han hævder, at han har være udsat for tortur under fængslingen. Bangladesh er berygtet for deres meget strenge straffe, og hvis den 63-årige Alam dømmes, så risikerer han mellem syv og 14 års fængsel.

Testamente – af Oleg Sentsov

We are all going to die. And I, unfortunately, am no exception. We’d all like to live a bit longer, and here I, fortunately, am also no exception. No, I don’t want to extend my life in order to live to a hundred and spend the last quarter of it dragging out my decrepit existence on various machines and drugs. I want to live my young, full life a bit longer, to receive pleasure from life and to give pleasure to others, to walk, or even better to run, to sleep at night or not sleep, and I want to be the one who decides all of this, not my organism and my doctors.

This is the kind of life I’d like to live for a bit longer. But it’s not possible. We are all going to die. After death, we will all turn into lumps of rotting meat, buried a couple of metres underground. The worms will eat us, and our dutiful relatives will visit our graves, wear sad expressions on their faces, stand in front of the cross or gravestone, look at our portraits, forgetting entirely that crosses are planted at the feet of the departed, so the whole mournful company is now standing on his head and gazing tenderly at the portrait etched into the granite. Then they’ll get their supplies and booze out, and make sure everyone has a drink, including the deceased, of whom there won’t be much left by that time, and the flowers will bloom all around. Pathos and superstition, pointless religious-pagan rituals and scholasticism.

I don’t want people trampling on my head, even after I’m dead, and I don’t want my children and grandchildren to remember me as a portrait on a slab of granite. I don’t want a wake on my grave. I generally don’t like drawing attention to myself, not now, and certainly not after I’m dead. I don’t want a grave.

When I was a child, just four years old, I went to my grandfather’s funeral. Usually, children don’t remember themselves being that young, and only very occasionally do they remember the most remarkable events from that time. But I remember that funeral. I don’t remember much, but I remember the main thing: me standing at the edge of the grave on a pile of dirt together with my relatives. And then, after the funeral, I was stunned to discover that they wouldn’t be digging grandad up again, that he had died and that was it, forever. Throughout my whole childhood I had a recurring nightmare: in the evening or during the night I would see a black grave and a body in a white shroud being lowered into it. It was grandad’s body, but I imagined that it was me, and I knew that sooner or later it would be. Never take your children to a funeral.

As a child, I was afraid that I would die. Now I’m not afraid – now I know that I’ll die. As I child, I was afraid of the black grave, but now I just don’t want to lie in it.

We are all going to die. Each in our own way. Some will die quietly, as though closing the door to the bedroom of a child who has only just fallen asleep. Others will die in cries and suffering, as though during birth. I don’t know how I will die, but I definitely don’t want to die as a decrepit old man in bed surrounded by yawning relatives.

There was once a man who was asked how he would like to die, and he answered: ‘With a shout of “hurrah!” on my lips, a gun slung over my shoulder and a mouth full of blood.’ I’d also like that – it’s beautiful, it’s manly. But that’s not how it works. Heroes only die beautifully in movies and books. In real life, they piss blood into their pants, scream from pain and remember their mothers.

I don’t want a grave. I want to be burned. No, not on the bonfire of some inquisition, but in a simple crematorium. Burned, and the ashes sprinkled at sea. If possible, on the Black Sea, and in summer, when the sun is shining and a fresh wind is blowing. But even if it’s autumn and raining, that’s also not so bad. I wouldn’t want you waiting for summer if I kick the bucket in November. Otherwise you’ll have guests round asking, ‘What have you got in that vase there?’ ‘That’s our grandad, he’s waiting for summer!’ The vase should also go into the sea, by the way – no need to fetishize it. Otherwise, that same room, a year later, different guests will ask, ‘What’s that vase you’ve got there?’ ‘Grandad was in that vase,’ the relatives will announce, solemnly getting to their feet. In that case, why don’t we hang my socks and underpants around the house then – my favourite ones, and the ones I wore last?

I want to be burned. To ashes. And the ashes to be spread on the wind. On the sea. Best in summer, if, of course, I die in summer. Just remember to throw the ashes on the wind away from the boat, so that they are blown over the sea and not onto the boat, so that some cheeky grandchild (clearly taking after his grandad) won’t be tempted to comment, as he sweeps up my remains, ‘Nothing but problems with that old guy!’

Let the wind take my ashes out to sea. But if it’s raining, that’s okay. They’ll all say, ‘That means we’re burying a good man, since it’s raining.’ But you’re not burying – you’re sowing, friends, that is, blowing!

And if it’s raining and the ashes get a bit stuck to the urn, that’s also fine. True, that same cheeky grandchild will look into the urn, see a bit of leftover ashes and say, ‘Yeah, grandad’s still hanging on!’ But that’s fine, just throw the urn into the sea too. So that there’s nothing left. Nothing at all. Just memory. And the things I did. And my friends. And you. And then I’ll always be with you.

Translated from the Russian by Dr Uilleam Blacker

 

Dr Uilleam Blacker is an academic and translator specialising in Ukrainian, Polish and Russian literature. His translations of contemporary Ukrainian literature have appeared in numerous publications, including Modern Poetry in Translation, Words Without Borders and Dalkey Archive’s Best European Fiction series.

This story was first published in Russian by Laurus Press in Tales (2015).

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Den anerkendte ukrainske forfatter og filmskaber Oleg Sentsov blev i august 2015 idømt 20 års fængsel, på falske anklager om terrorisme, efter en helt igennem uretfærdig retssag, ført ved en russisk militærdomstol. Der er mistanke om, at Oleg Sentsov har været udsat for tortur.

Siden 14. maj 2018 har Oleg Sentsov sultestrejket med krav om, at alle de uretfærdigt fængslede ukrainere i Rusland, frigives. PEN International opfordrer de russiske myndigheder til at løslade Seltsov straks.