A veteran of World War II, Kandyba is one of the authors of the program of the unofficial Ukrainian Workers' and Peasants' Union that was organized in 1959. The Union originally advocated secession of Ukraine from the USSR. In 1960, it revised its objectives to achieving legal status for Ukraine through official recognition and to removing illegal limitations on citizens' rights. Although the Union never functioned, Kandyba was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment (1961-1970) on the charges of "treason" and "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda" for his participation in the Union. He served his term in full.

Realizing that as that as a former political prisoner, he would never be allowed to work as a lawyer and would always be subject to discrimination in the Soviet Union, Kandyba declared his desire to emigrate in 1976. Officials have consistently denied him exit permission since then.

Just as he feared, Kandyba is the object of constant harassment by the authorities; he is not allowed to live in his native city of L'vov with his father, nor is he permitted to work as an attorney.

He lives under resumed administrative surveillance and works in an electrical appliance factory.

The local police once told Kandyba that they would lift his administrative surveillance if he agreed to confess publicly to illegal and "sinful" Helsinki Group activities. Kandyba refused.

In 1947, Krasivsky--who was 17 years old--was sentenced to 5 years in camp for escaping from internal exile. His family was one of thousands from Western Ukraine who had been exiled to distant Kazakhstan. Released from imprisonment, Krasivsky lived in L'vov oblast and wrote articles.

For his participation in the Ukrainian National Front, a group which advocated the peaceful secession of Ukraine from the USSR, Krasivsky was arrested in March of 1967 on charges of "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda" and "betrayal of the Motherland" (Articles 62 and 56 respectively of the Ukrainian Criminal Code). He was sentenced in November of 1967 to 5 years in prison, 7 years in camp and 5 years of internal exile.

In December of 1971, a new criminal case was initiated against Krasivsky and he was charged with "anti-Soviet agitation" for the poetry he had written in camp. In early 1972, Krasivsky was sent to the Serbsky Psychiatric Institute for examination and was deemed mentally incompetent. He was first sent to a special psychiatric hospital in Smolensk, and in 1976, he was transferred to a general psychiatric hospital in L'vov. Numerous organizations in the West, including Amnesty International, protested his confinement.

When he was finally released in July of 1978, the long years in prisons and hospitals had taken their toll; Krasivsky is an invalid of the second category, suffering from stomach ulcers and spine and head injuries.

He joined the Ukrainian Group in the late summer of 1979 and has announced his desire to emigrate.