Solovki prison camp
Even though Epik had continued to support the Communist Party, after the abrupt reversion of the Soviet Ukrainization in the early 1930s, he suffered from the purges. He was arrested on 5 December 1934, accused of being a Ukrainian nationalist and a member of a secret terrorist organization. In early 1935, he was sentenced to ten years of forced labour and sent to the Solovki prison camp in the White Sea.