Empty chairs speak for missing voices in Kyiv

November 15, 2025 – Ukraine –

In central Kyiv, a powerful installation of vacant chairs was placed at Sophia Square in a visual protest organised by PEN Ukraine together with the Center for Civil Liberties. The symbolic arrangement commemorated Ukrainian journalists, writers, artists, and human-rights defenders who are missing, unlawfully detained, or still held captive as a result of the war unleashed by Russia.

The empty chairs bore the names of cultural figures whose absence reflects the human cost of the conflict. As one organising statement explained, the chairs represent those who “cannot be with us due to imprisonment, persecution, disappearance, or murder.” Among those named were journalists, writers, and activists whose fate remains uncertain. The action is aligned with the global “Day of the Imprisoned Writer,” observed annually on 15 November since the late 1980s by the international literary organisation PEN International.

Organisers emphasised that the installation was more than a commemoration: it served as a call to action. Families of the missing and imprisoned joined the event to share stories, and the event invited the public to submit additional information about persons not yet publicly listed. At this year’s action, freed political prisoners who had previously endured detention or capture under Russian aggression attended and spoke.

According to media-monitoring organisations, the scale of the losses is stark. In the past year alone, Ukraine’s frontline media workers and cultural figures have suffered multiple cases of disappearance, detention, and death amidst the broader war-zone environment. The protest draws attention not only to those physically absent but also to the ongoing risk faced by journalists working under occupation or in areas of active conflict.

For the “Targeting Journalists is a Crime” initiative, this event underscores the intersection of journalism, culture, and conflict. The empty chairs metaphor serves as a reminder that many voices remain unheard and many professionals remain unseen — yet society must continue to seek them out, document their fates, and champion their freedom.

Reference –

https://pen.org.ua/en/u-kyyevi-vidbudetsya-akciya-porozhni-stilci-na-pidtrymku-nezakonno-uv-yaznenykh-polonenykh-ta-znyklykh-bezvisty-zhurnalistiv-ta-mytciv

https://kyiv24.com/en/action-empty-chairs-kyiv-support-2/

Kyiv’s Empty Chairs Protest Highlights Missing Ukrainian Journalists and Activists