Ukrainian scientist and religious scholar Ihor Kozlovsky died on the night of September 6.
This was reported by his colleague Lyudmila Filippovych, an employee of the Institute of Philosophy named after H.S. Pans of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Ihor Kozlovsky left us tonight because of a heart attack,” she wrote.
Ihor Kozlovsky was 69 years old. He comes from Donetsk region. Even after the invasion, the Russian did not leave the small Motherland, but on January 27, 2016, the militants of the so-called “DNR” took him prisoner for his pro-Ukrainian position. Kozlovsky was in captivity for 700 days and was exchanged on December 27, 2017.
He was convicted and sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in prison.
The Ukrainian public supported the scientist and came to his defense. This is how the #FreeKozlovskyy campaign was created, which was joined by Ukrainians on social networks.
After returning to Ukraine, he worked as a senior researcher in the Department of Religious Studies of the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
After the loss, Igor Kozlovsky’s son Oleksandr published a child’s photo, which he signed:
“Dad… You were the world to me. I love you infinitely. Rest in peace”.
Tetyana Troshchynska, editor-in-chief of the Public Radio, also expressed condolences for the loss.
“We had a lot of conversations on and off the air. These are the conversations that you think about for days, come back to them,” she said.
Tatiana Troshchynska added that she had planned to have a conversation with Kozlovsky about finding the meaning of life after the death of a loved one for an episode of podcasts about living with loss.
The editor-in-chief of “Ukrainian Pravda” Sevgil Musaeva noted that Kozlovsky was “an incredible person.”
“My moral guide, my friend. He could always give the right advice and find the most important words for anyone. He had a big and kind heart that could not withstand all this horror,” she continued.
Sevgil Musaeva added that for two years in a row, Kozlovsky presented the UP award to the winner in the “Civic position” nomination, because “he was the right person for this.”
Poet Tetyana Vlasova also reacted to the sad news. She noted that on the evening of September 5, Mr. Ihor published a photo from the premiere of the film “I, Nina” on his page, and the next day the feed was filled with obituaries.
“A great man who went through so much and left behind so much light,” she added.
“The strongest person I have met in my life. Heart, mind, spirit and body. Thank you for everything Igor Kozlovsky. We have lost a true Person,” wrote cultural activist Oleksandr Panasiuk.
Friend Victor Gubarev expresses sympathy: “Terrible news. My son’s godfather and my only old friend Ihor Kozlovsky passed away. Eternal memory!”.
Cultural figure Radomir Mokryk said that he met with Igor Kozlovsky only once. During the interview, I asked him why the religious scholar called himself a “debtor of love.”
Kozlovsky spoke about the capture and about the feelings after the interrogation, about accepting the thought of his own death and about the definition itself: “I knew that I was being looked for, that I was waiting for me, that they were praying for me. Therefore, I owe their love. It was my inner awareness that I owed love. This debt cannot be paid, it is endless. Therefore, no matter how hard you try, you will never fill it.”
