Today Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has approved a law under which foreigners – heroes of the heavenly Hundred – may be awarded the highest national title.
Mikhail ‘Loki’ Zhyzneuski, a Belarusian-born defender of Maidan, was one of the first killed in January 2014 in the course of the protests in Kyiv.
“For the fulfillment of an outstanding heroic deed associated with the defense of the constitutional principles of democracy, human rights and freedoms during the Revolution of Dignity (November 2013 – February 2014),” the law reads.
235 deputies were in favor of adopting the law, no one voted nay or abstained.
Belsat TV documentary about Mikhail Zhyzneuski (in Belarusian)
Mikhail Zhyzneuski left Belarus in 2005. He lived in the town of Bila Tserkva near Kyiv. He was shot dead on the morning of January 22 in Hrushevskoho Street. Zhyzneuski was an activist of Ukrainian organisation UNA-UNSO (The Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People’s Self-Defense). He was buried near the village of Znamya Pracy (Flag of Labour), Homiel region. He was posthumously awarded with Order of Heroes of Heavenly Hundred.
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