Serhiy Gagikovych Nigoyan or NihoyanUkrainian In Spirit, If Not In Name: Euromaidan's First Victims. Radio Svoboda. January 27, 2014 (, ; August 2, 1993 – January 22, 2014) was an Armenian-Ukrainian Euromaidan activist who was fatally shot during the 2014 Hrushevskoho Street protests where he was acting as security. He was the first protester killed by shooting during the protest.
Biography Serhiy Nigoyan was born on August 2, 1993, to ethnic Armenians in the village of Bereznuvativka (south of Dnipro, then still under the Soviet name Dnipropetrovsk) 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.
Serhiy was an only child.Perished in Kiev Serhiy Nigoyan loved Armenia and knew its history: revelations of father. news.am. January 23, 2014 He was born in Ukraine and never visited his ancestral land, yet loved his country. According to his father, on a wall next to Serhiy's bed hangs the flag of Armenia. Serhiy was attending the Armenian Church and knew the history of his people. 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 classesSerhiy 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 and in summer along with his father was visiting Crimea for seasonal work. Nigoyan was an amateur fighter in kyokushinkaikan karate and in the 2012 city championship in Kamianske, he placed third.The killed at Hrusheskoho is a 21-year-old Serhiy Nigoyan from Dnipropetrovsk Region. Komsomolskaya Pravda v Ukraine. January 22, 2014
Filming the project "There are people" () to the 200th Anniversary of Shevchenko, producer Serhiy Proskrunia managed to record video footage of Nigoyan reading a fragment of Shevchenko's poem "Caucasus".Perished protester Nigoyan will be the face of the project "My Shevchenko" - Proskrunia. Radion Svoboda. January 22, 2014
Death and burial
He died early in the morning of January 22, 2014, at around 06.30At Hrushevskoho Berkut shot protester, another died in hospital. nbnews. January 22, 2014 after being mortally wounded. Soon after, at around 08.10, Berkut violently charged protestersVideo of morning attack of Berkut against protesters. TSN. January 22, 2014 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.Serhiy Nigoyan was buried in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. news.fm. January 26, 2014 His funeral was attended by local villagers, representative of the Armenian diaspora, priests from Armenian and Ukrainian Churches. His requiem was served by the head of Ukrainian Eparchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Grigoris Buniatyan.
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".Armenian Nigoyan sacrificed his life that became a symbol of Ukraine. 24tv. January 23, 2014Twitter of Vakarchuk. Twitter. January 22, 2014
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".
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.Yanukovich Square In Armenian Town ‘Renamed’. Radio Svoboda. February 20, 2014
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.Hero of the Heavenly sotnia Ustym Holodniuk became an honorary citizen of the city Berezhany. Posthumously. Beyond Zbruch. March 28, 2014
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 21, 2018. Dnipro municipality for the second time decided to rename Kalinin avenue to Sergey Nigoyan, (23 February 2018)
In early 2014 Ukrainian composer Valentyn Sylvestrov dedicated two songs to the memory of Nigoyan.
Photos
References
External links Brief interview with Nigoyan. TSN. 19 January 2014