Serhiy Nigoyan

Serhiy Gagikovych Nigoyan or Nihoyan[4] (Ukrainian: Сергій Нігоян, Armenian: Սերգեյ Նիգոյան; August 2, 1993 – January 22, 2014) was an Armenian-Ukrainian Euromaidan activist who was fatally shot during the 2014 Hrushevskoho Street riots where he was acting as security. He was the first protester killed by shooting during the protest.

Serhiy Nigoyan Սերգեյ Նիգոյան Сергій Нігоян
Serhiy Nigoyan on the barricade in Euromaidan.
Born	Serhiy Garnikovych Nigoyan August 2, 1993 village Bereznuvativka, Solone Raion, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine
Died	January 22, 2014 (aged 20) Hrushevskoho Street, Kyiv, Ukraine
Cause of death	Gunshot wounds[1] (lead shrapnel)[2]
Resting place	village Bereznuvativka, Solone Raion, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine
Other names	Samvel Nigoyan
Education	Dniprodzerzhynsk College of Physical Education
Occupation	student, sports amateur
Years active	2013–14 (as activist)
Known for	being the first protester to die of a gunshot wound during Euromaidan
Parent(s)	Garegin Nigoyan[3]
Awards	Hero of Ukraine (2014)

Biography

Serhiy Nigoyan was born on August 2, 1993 to ethnic Armenians in Bereznuvativka village (south of Dnipro, then still under the Soviet name Dniepropetrovsk) in Ukraine. Serhiy Nigoyan's parents are from the village Navur, in Armenia's northeastern province of Tavush, not far from the Azerbaijani border. They moved to Ukraine in the early 1990s, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War when their village was often attacked. Some relatives of Serhiy's father Gagik still live in Navur.[5][6]

Serhiy was an only child.[7] He was born in Ukraine and never visited his ancestral land, yet loved his country.[7] According to his father, on a wall next to Serhiy's bed hangs the flag of Armenia.[7] Serhiy was attending the Armenian Church and knew the history of his people.[7] His father also stated that Serhiy studied at the Kamianske, then Dniprodzerzhynsk, College of Physical Education, but after two years of study he ceased attending classes[8] and in summer along with his father was visiting Crimea for seasonal work.[7] Nigoyan was an amateur fighter in kyokushinkaikan karate and in the 2012 city championship in Kamianske, he placed third.[9]

Filming the project "There are people" (Ukrainian: «Є люди»)[3] to the 200th Anniversary of Shevchenko, producer Serhiy Proskrunia managed to record video footage of Nigoyan reading a fragment of Shevchenko's poem "Caucasus".[10]

Glory to you, the blue mountains constrained by ice and to you great knights by God not forgotten. Fight and overcome, God is helping you! Truth is behind you, strength is behind you, and liberty sacred![11][12]

Death and burial

Serhiy Nigoyan on the barricade of Myhailivska street, December 11, 2013.

He died early in the morning of January 22, 2014 at around 06.30[13] after being mortally wounded. Soon after, at around 08.10, Berkut violently charged protesters[14] on Hrushevskoho street, near the Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium.

On January 23, 2014 the Televised News Service (TSN) showed a footage with interview of Nigoyan filmed on January 19 by the TSN's cameraman. On a question why he came to Euromaidan, Nigoyan stated that he did so in protest against beating of students by Berkut militsiya. While proud to be an Armenian, Nigoyan wanted to express his support for people among which he was born and with which he lived.

On January 26, 2014 Nigoyan was buried in his native village Bereznuvativka.[15] His funeral was attended by local villagers, representative of the Armenian diaspora, priests from Armenian and Ukrainian Churches.[15] His requiem was served by the head of Ukrainian Eparchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Grigoris Buniatyan.[15]

Reaction

On January 22, 2014 in his Twitter Svyatoslav Vakarchuk mentioned that "another Armenian, Parajanov created the film (Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors) that became symbol for all Ukrainians, today Armenian Nigoyan sacrificed his life that became a symbol of Ukraine".[16][17]

Valentyn Sylvestrov (b. 1937), a renowned Ukrainian composer, dedicated a memorial diptych to Serhiy Nigoyan. The new pieces use lyrics by Taras Shevchenko which Nigoyan had quoted, and the traditional liturgical text "With the saints give rest".[18]

Legacy

On February 20, 2014 a group of Armenian opposition activists attempted to rename a square in the Armenian town of Spitak from Viktor Yanukovych Square to Serhiy Nigoyan Square.[19]

On March 27, 2014 the Berezhany city council adopted a decision to rename a street named after the Soviet writer Yaroslav Halan to Nigoyan Street.[20]

On 28 January 2015 the Dnipro city council renamed Kalinin Avenue to Prospekt Serhiy Nigoyan. The decision was abolished by the Dnipro Administrative Court of Appeal in June 2017 on procedural grounds, however the name was reinstated by a separate resolution on February 21st, 2018.[21]

Photos

• 
  Portrait of Serhiy Nigoyan with flags of Armenia and Ukraine at barricade No. 32 in Independence square, Kyiv, Ukraine.
• 
  Portrait of Serhiy Nigoyan with the flag of Armenia at the gates of barricade No 32.
• 
  Mourning for Serhiy Nigoyan in Lviv

References

1. Investigation received results of expertise over the bodies of perished protesters - directors of Main Investigation Administration. Ministry of Internal Affairs website. January 23, 2014
2. On Maidan was mourned perished activist. BBC Ukraine. January 26, 2014
3. TVi prepared footage commemorating Serhiy Nigoyan pershed on vulytsia Hrushevskoho. Telekritika. January 22, 2014
4. Ukrainian In Spirit, If Not In Name: Euromaidan's First Victims. Radio Svoboda. January 27, 2014
5. Sargsyan, Voskan (22 January 2014). Կիեւում բախումների ժամանակ զոհված Սերգեյ Նիգոյանի ընտանիքը Ուկրաինա էր տեղափոխվել Նավուրից. Aravot (in Armenian). Retrieved 25 January 2014.
6. "I will stay in Maidan till the end: killed Nigoian told his father". NYUT.AM. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
7. Perished in Kiev Serhiy Nigoyan loved Armenia and knew its history: revelations of father. news.fm. January 23, 2014
8. Serhiy Nigoyan was expelled after the second semester, left for home and communication with him was lost - a director of the Dniprodzerzhynsk College of Physical Education. Most-Dnepr. January 22, 2014
9. The killed at Hrusheskoho is a 21-year-old Serhiy Nigoyan from Dnipropetrovsk Region. Komsomolskaya Pravda v Ukraine. January 22, 2014
10. Perished protester Nigoyan will be the face of the project "My Shevchenko" - Proskrunia. Radion Svoboda. January 22, 2014
11. Armenian who perished for Ukraine. Ukrayina Moloda.
12. 76 - Serhiy Nigoyan, "Our Shevchenko" on YouTube (video). December 22, 2013
13. At Hrushevskoho Berkut shot protester, another died in hospital. nbnews. January 22, 2014
14. Video of morning attack of Berkut against protesters. TSN. January 22, 2014
15. Serhiy Nigoyan was buried in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. news.fm. January 26, 2014
16. Armenian Nigoyan sacrificed his life that became a symbol of Ukraine. 24tv. January 23, 2014
17. Twitter of Vakarchuk. Twitter. January 22, 2014
19. Yanukovich Square In Armenian Town ‘Renamed’. Radio Svoboda. February 20, 2014
20. Hero of the Heavenly sotnia Ustym Holodniuk became an honorary citizen of the city Berezhany. Posthumously. Beyond Zbruch. March 28, 2014
21. (in Ukrainian) Dnipro municipality for the second time decided to rename Kalinin avenue to Sergey Nigoyan, (23 February 2018)

External links

• Brief interview with Nigoyan. TSN. 19 January 2014