Galetsky Rostislav Nikolaevich

Genus. in 1948 Priest of the All-Union Church of Faithful and Free Seventh Day Adventists. Rostislav Galetsky (pseudonym Vasily Lutsky) was in an illegal position for five years, until his arrest. He was one of the most authoritative figures of the VSASD CC. On May 11, 1978, it was announced the creation of the "Group of the All-Union Central Council of the All-Union Council for the Legal Fight and Investigation of the Facts of the Persecution of Believers in the USSR." R. Galetseky became its leader.

The group issued and distributed a large number of documents ["News from the USSR". NN 13/14 - July 31, 1980]. In a book on the history of dissent in the USSR, Lyudmila Alekseeva wrote about Galetsky: "<...> Vladimir Shelkov and his associate, the clergyman of the VSASD church Rostislav Galetsky (also, like Shelkov, who was in an illegal position) put their signatures as representatives of the VSASD CC under Document No. 26 of the Moscow Helsinki Group addressed to the Belgrade Conference, which called for consideration in Belgrade of violations of freedom of religion in the USSR, but also indicated violations of the right to free choice of country of residence and violations of national rights, reported the use of forced labor of prisoners and about the existence in the USSR of political prisoners - prisoners of conscience, about the harsh conditions of their detention.

In February 1978, Galetsky took part in the MHG press conferences on the anniversaries of the arrests of Y. Orlov and A. Ginzburg. In addition, Galetsky published articles popularizing the religious and legal views of the faithful and free Adventists (“Report on the situation of religion and the believer in the USSR” and “On our attitude to the state.” Following Shelkov, he founded the active human rights position of faithful Adventists. <.. .> Galetsky appealed for support in this struggle to the people of the West - not only to Adventists, but to all Christians and religious organizations, and in general “to all people of good will, ... who value rights and freedoms.” He asked them not to believe false Soviet information and use their access to newspapers, radio, etc. to reveal the true situation of dissidents in the Soviet Union.He asked for support not only for believers, but also for independent human rights associations operating in the USSR and human rights advocates in general.<. ..>

Rostislav Galetsky signed the Letter of the Twelve to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU criticizing the draft constitution. <...>

In May 1978, at a regular press conference in Moscow, Galetsky reported on a seven-member Adventist human rights group (whose names were announced to correspondents) that had been operating under his leadership for two years. Galetsky presented the correspondents with five documents of the Group - all of them were devoted to various cases of illegal persecution of Adventists, as well as the course of the investigation of their leaders.<...>"

Galetsky lived in an illegal position lately in the city of Ryazan. Arrested on 07/01/1980. The investigation was conducted by the prosecutor's office of the Ryazan region. Galetsky was sentenced on March 25, 1981 under Art. 190-1, 142 to 5 years of penitentiary. He served his term in the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. On March 24-25, 1981, Adventist Maria Sergeevna Chulkova (b. 1947) also appeared before the court in Ryazan together with R. Galetsky. She was sentenced under the political article 190-1 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to 3 years in general regime camps. Her family (she has two children) lives in Ryazan. ["News from the USSR, 1981, 2-6].

In 2013, a book of memoirs by Rostislav Galetsky "Landing Strip" was published by the Adventist publishing house. From the information from the Program of the History of the Dissident Movement of the International Society "Memorial" about Rostislav Nikolaevich Galetsky: "Bishop of the All-Union Church of Faithful and Free Seventh-Day Adventists. In the second half of the 1970s, he was in contact with the leadership of the VSASD with Moscow human rights activists. He acted as the press secretary of the Adventists. Political prisoner (1980-1985)."

Rostislav Galetsky died in 2017. According to journalists, hundreds of fellow believers from all over Russia came to his funeral. In 2018, a video interview with Rostislav Nikolaevich Galetsky was included in the documentary "For the success of our hopeless cause"; the author of the film is Nikola Miletich, the director of the film is Yevgeny Golynkin, the producers are Yevgeny Gindilis and Elena Polyakovskaya.



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