Valery Marchenko should have turned 70 this year, after a long life which he would have surely spent serving Ukraine. The renowned journalist, writer and human rights defender died in October 1984, just a few months after being sentenced to 10 years labour camp for so-called ‘anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda’. 33 years after the sentence and Marchenko’s death, in independent Ukraine,, the judge who passed sentence has been honoured with a state award. …read more