ABERYSTWYTH University has commemorated a late alumnus who is regarded as a hero in Ukraine, where he helped expose Stalin’s genocide.

A delegation from the Ukrainian Embassy in London travelled to Aberystwyth to honour Gareth Jones, who graduated from the university in 1926 and went on to expose the Ukraine famine of 1932-33, known as the Holodomor, as an act of genocide which killed seven to 10 million people.

Staff, current students, members of Aberystwyth’s Old Students Association, local dignitaries and Gareth Jones’ great nephew, Nigel Colley, gathered at the Old College for the commemoration service as wreaths were laid on Thursday, 23 November.

Speaking on the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor, Mr Marchenko said: “Today we pay tribute to the brave young Welsh journalist, the Aberystwyth University alumnus Gareth Jones.

“Despite the risks to his life, he played a significant role in disclosing the crime of the Holodomor starvation to the rest of the world and struggled for truth at the time when most others publicly denied it.

“Today, 17 nations including Canada and the US have officially recognised the Holodomor in Ukraine as genocide.

“It is our sacred duty to the millions of victims of the Holodomor and the brave Gareth Jones to remember them and to make their story known to the world as one of the most tragic pages in the history of the twentieth century.”

Mr Colley said: “In these times of ‘fake news’, Gareth Jones’ exemplary reporting of the 1933 famine to the world, without distortion or manipulation, stands out as a beacon for honest journalism, which is just as important now as it was back in 1933.”

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