Vasyl Cherepanyn heavily beaten by paramilitary thugs

On September 23rd, Vasyl Cherepanyn, lecturer at the National University ”Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” and head of Visual Culture Research Center and Ukrainian Political Critique (Політична критика), was attacked on Kontraktova Square in Kyiv, next to the university were he works.

A group of unknown men dressed in camouflage paramilitary uniforms attacked Vasyl Cherepanyn in broad daylight in a crowded square in central Kyiv. The police was late to the scene, and the attackers were not arrested. Vasyl Cherepanyn received heavy injuries, including fractures of facial bones. He links this incident to his professional activity.

Vasyl Cherepanyn, PhD of Theory of Art, is a lecturer at the Cultural Studies Department at the National Universilty ”Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”. He is the head of Visual Culture Research Center, and editor of the Political Critique (Політична критика) magazine. He is an organizer of numerous scientific conferences, public discussions and art exhibitions. Among the latest events, co-organized by Vasyl Cherepanyn, are the conference Ukraine: Thinking Together, with the participation of Timothy Snyder, Ivan Krastev, Agnieszka Holland, Paul Bermann and other leading intellectuals, and also the series of events during the Open University at Maidan, where he was an activist.

While the military aggression is carried out against Ukraine, aggressive young men in military uniforms carried out an unprecedentedly violent attack on the university lecturer in the center of Kyiv. During the attack, the thugs were accusing Vasyl Cherepanyn of being ‘separatist’, which is totally absurd to anyone aware of his activities. These unfounded and absurd claims, along with accusations of being ‘a communist’, are more and more often used by aggressive ignorants who aim to impose their ideology of hatred upon Ukrainian society, and to suppress any manifestations of critical thought. We demand a quick investigation of this appalling attack. We also demand to investigate the activities of paramilitary groups that use the war in Ukraine as a pretext to justify their own misantropic views.

Visual Culture Research Center