Voice of Ukraine

From: Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 837)

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound
Isaiah 61:1

A tunnel in downtown Kyiv has doors painted on its walls. They are meant to recreate the prison setting. The table at the entrance reads, “You are about to enter the tunnel that looks like prison hallways. You will cross this nightmare and walk back into sunlight in a minute. However, those captured by Russia won’t.” Each door has a QR code that leads you to a story of a Ukrainian citizen (mostly Crimean Tatars) kidnapped and imprisoned by Russian authorities.

For example, there’s a story of Inver Bekirov. His family was deported to Tajikistan during the massive deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944, so that’s where he was born. They returned to Crimea in 1990 when Inver was 27 years old. He worked in construction and was involved in a local Muslim community. In 2016, after the occupation of Crimea and the beginning of persecution, he was detained and accused of terrorism. In 2019, he was sentenced to 18 years at a special regime convict colony.

Another door leads to the story of Aider Dzhapparov, a father of 8. He was born in Uzbekistan, as that’s where the Soviets deported his family. Aider was an active member of the community, organizing Muslim holidays. He had been under surveillance and persecution since 2014 until he was detained in 2019. He’s been behind bars ever since.

There are more doors, telling more stories. Most of the prisoners are the descendants of those who survived the horrible Soviet genocide, returned home when Ukraine gained independence, lived, loved, and had jobs and families until Russia decided they were convenient cases to threaten the general population of Crimea.

I believe that one day, their prison doors will be opened, and the Lord will set the captives free and bring the oppressors to justice.