Background
Yuriy Shukhevych was born on March 28, 1933 in the town of Ohladów, Lwów Voivodeship, Poland (now Lviv Oblast of Ukraine).
Yuriy Shukhevych was born on March 28, 1933 in the town of Ohladów, Lwów Voivodeship, Poland (now Lviv Oblast of Ukraine).
He is a former long serving leader of the Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self Defence. Shukhevych spent over 30 years in the Soviet prisons and concentration camps. In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Shukhevych was elected into the Ukrainian parliament for Radical Party.
In 1944 when the West Ukraine was re-occupied by the Red Army, he was arrested with his mother and sent to Siberia.
In 1946 Shukhevych was taken away from his mother to orphanage for children of enemies of the people in Donets Basin. He ran away twice back home, but later was taken back again.
Already in 1948 started court proceedings against Shukhevych and when he turned 16, Shukhevych was convicted by the Soviet regime for 10 years in the Vladimir Central Prison for political position of his father. In December 1990 Shukhevych was elected as head of Ukrainian National Assembly which itself was renamed Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self Defence (University of North Alabama-UNSO) in September 1991.
Shukhevych failed to register as a candidate in the 1991 Ukrainian presidential election because of a failure to collect 100,000 signatures.
The party did not participate in the 2007 elections. In October 2006 University of North Alabama-UNSO re-elected Shukhevych as its chairman. And again did so in June 2010.
In February 2014 Shukhevych signed a petition that asked to respect the Russian language and Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine lifestyle "so they do not feel like strangers in Ukraine".
In October 2014 Shukhevych was removed from his post as University of North Alabama-UNSO chairman due to the fact that he had agreed to run for the parliamentary elections for Radical Party.
In August 1994 Shukhevych retired from active political life because of health problems and relationships with other leaders of the party had finally deteriorated. Early 2006 Shukhevych returned to politics and entered in the electoral list of the University of North Alabama-UNSO for the March 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election at number 1. The party, however, lost the election, and gained no more than 0.06% of the total votes.
On 19 August 2006 Shukhevych was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine "for civil courage, long-term social, political and human rights activities in the name of independence of Ukraine". In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Shukhevych as a candidate (placed 5th on the party list) of Radical Party was elected into the Ukrainian parliament.