An activist from early in life, Tykhy was arrested twice on charges of anti-Soviet agitation for his activism against the Soviet invasion of Hungary and the Russification of Ukraine, and spent 17 years imprisoned before his death from stomach cancer in 1984.
[2] Oleksii Ivanovych Tykhy was born on 27 January 1927 in the village of Izhevka [uk], in the eastern Donetsk Oblast of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
His first job was as a teacher of physics, mathematics, and the Ukrainian language in Pryazovske Raion, and he also worked as a fireman and in construction.
[2] According to other sources, such as the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, he was instead charged with Ukrainian nationalism,[3] and Amnesty International further claimed he had been accused of "counter-revolutionary behaviour".
He worked at local libraries,[2] as a pipefitter, fireman, and brick firer,[5] and began publishing Ukrainian samizdat.
The latter charge came from a World War II-era German rifle Tykhy had sealed with clay and stored in his shed's attic.
Several of Tykhy's texts were considered at the trial, but he was ultimately convicted on a statement referring to "supposed Russification in the Donbas area".
[4] Like many other prison labourers in Mordovia, Tykhy began to suffer from digestive problems following his arrival - in particular, he was stricken with a stomach ulcer.
[2] In Mordovia, Tykhy also collaborated with other imprisoned dissidents, such as Vasyl Romaniuk, with whom he wrote a tract calling for nonviolent resistance to Soviet rule.
[5] He also frequently spoke with fellow Helsinki Group leader Vasyl Ovsienko, who shared a cell with him and noted his maintained interest in education.