Warsaw Process – one of the biggest trials against the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists

Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists

The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists is a Ukrainian political organization which as a movement originally was created in 1929 in Western Ukraine . The OUN accepted violence as an acceptable tool in the fight against foreign and domestic enemies particularly Poland and Russia...

 (OUN) in Second Polish Republic

Second Polish Republic

The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...

. Took place 18 November 1935 – 13 January 1936.

Stepan Bandera

Stepan Bandera

Stepan Andriyovych Bandera was a Ukrainian politician and one of the leaders of Ukrainian national movement in Western Ukraine , who headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists...

, Mykola Lebed

Mykola Lebed

Mykola Lebed , also known as Maksym Ruban, Marko or Yevhen Skyrba, was a Ukrainian political activist, Ukrainian nationalist and guerrilla fighter. He was among those tried, convicted, and imprisoned for the murder, in 1936, of Polish Interior Minister Bronislaw Pieracki. The court sentenced him to...

, and others were accused of being members of the OUN and of assassination of Polish Minister of Internal Affairs Bronisław Pieracki that happened on 15 June 1934.

The day when the verdict was announced was declared by Ukrainian

Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

 community as a day of national mourning.

The accused

During the Warsaw process was judged twelve members of the OUN: Stepan Bandera

Stepan Bandera

Stepan Andriyovych Bandera was a Ukrainian politician and one of the leaders of Ukrainian national movement in Western Ukraine , who headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists...

, Bohdan Pidhainy, Mykola Lebed

Mykola Lebed

Mykola Lebed , also known as Maksym Ruban, Marko or Yevhen Skyrba, was a Ukrainian political activist, Ukrainian nationalist and guerrilla fighter. He was among those tried, convicted, and imprisoned for the murder, in 1936, of Polish Interior Minister Bronislaw Pieracki. The court sentenced him to...

, Yaroslav Karpynets, Mykola Klymyshyn, Dariya Hnatkivska, Yaroslav Rak, Yakiv Chorniy, Kateryna Zarytska, Ivan Malyutsa, Roman Myhal and Yevhen Kachmarsky.

Defenders

Lawyers of the defendants were:

1. Volodymyr Horbovy (Bandera, Chorniy, Kachmarsky);
2. Yaroslav Shlapak (Karpynets, Malyutsa);
3. Lev Hankevych (Lebed, Hnatkivska, Rak, Pidhainy);
4. Oleksander Paventsky (Klymyshyn, Zarytska).

Penalty

After a two month process in Warsaw court sentences the accused are:

• Stepan Bandera, Mykola Lebed and Yaroslav Karpynets sentenced to death, but according to a government amnesty, a sentence commuted to life imprisonment;
• Mykola Klymyshyn, Bohdan Pidhainy sentenced to life imprisonment;
• Dariya Hnatkivska sentenced to 15 years in prison;
• Ivan Malyutsa, Roman Myhal and Yevhen Kachmarsky - 12 years in prison;
• Kateryna Zarytska - 8 years in prison;
• Yaroslav Rak and Yakiv Chorny - for 7 years in prison.

The court also denied Hnatkivska, Malyutsa, Kachmarsky, Myhal, Chorny, Zarytska and Rak civil rights for 10 years.

Sources

• (In Ukrainian) The Warsaw Act of indictment against Stepan Bandera and his comrades / Ed. by Mykola Posivnych. Lviv, 2005.
• (In Polish) Żeleński W. Zabójstwo ministra Pierackiego.