The Participation of Ukrainian Lawyers in the Olga Basarab’s Case
Authors: BALAN Yaroslav 
Published: October 2022

Based on archival sources and historiography, the author examines the participation lawyers Stepan Shukhevych and Volodymyr Bachynsky from Lviv in clarifying the circumstances of Olga Basarab’s death. The defeat of the Ukrainian liberation movement during the Polish-Ukrainian war caused aggravation of relations between Ukrainians and Poles. In the early 1920s, Polish police conducted audits and arrests among Ukrainian students in Lviv. During one of those audits, there are was made an arrest, which later led to the death of O. Basarab in prison. In the article the author reveals the course of events connected with the death of O. Basarab, which took place in February 1924 in Lviv. At the beginning of February 1924, on 34 Vispyanskoho st., in O. Basarab's apartment, representatives of the police information department conducted searches, finding a significant quantity of intelligence materials. The excluded materials were perceived by the Polish police as a spy agent materials from a secret military organization known as the Ukrainian Military Organization. The detainee was interrogated, but she denied belonging to the spy network. O. Basarab died in prison after interrogation and torture. The police did not inform the family and society about the death of the prisone. Lawyers' statements were filed against a criminal case fabricated by Polish police to cover up a cynical death. At the Lviv District Criminal Court, lawyers, together with the victim's family and judges, heard forensic expert Wlodzimierz Sieradski, who found traces of the beating on the body of the deceased. After hearing the conclusion, lawyers of V. Bachynsky and S. Shukhevych filed a criminal offense. In the statement, they demanded the immediate exhumation of the body and a re-autopsy, through the personal doctor of the deceased Marian Panchyshyn; additional hearing of V. Seradsky and all those who was at the first autopsy; interrogation of prisoners who were in the prison on February 13 and 14, where O. Basarab died. Lawyers also applied for access to police records to find out who questioned the victim and was present during the interrogation. The problems faced by the lawyers during the consideration of the criminal case protocols were identified. The judge did not take into account all the facts mentioned by the lawyers. At numerous oral and written requests to Judge Kazimierz Angelsky by V. Bachynsky and S. Shukhevych never received the originals files of the case and the protocol of the judicial autopsy of the body of the deceased. But under pressure from family, lawyers and the public, the judge ruled that the body tour was on February 26. Lawyers S. Shukhevych and V. Bachynsky arrived at the appointed time. However, the exhumation was carried out before the arrival of the lawyers, and they were not allowed to examine the body, because according to the court ruling, the lawyers had the right to be only during the exhumation of the body. By doing so, the Polish authorities avoided the presence of lawyers to provide an alibi during the exhumation process. Thus, despite the resonance of the case and the exhumation of the body, it was not possible to find out whether the deceased actually committed suicide or was tortured in prison during interrogations. The fact that the Polish police concealed death and probable staging of suicide was proved by the lawyers efforts. Thanks to the hard work of S. Shukhevych and V. Bachynsky, the torture of Ukrainian prisoners was reported, especially in political cases.