Name: Serhiy Breus
Age: 27
Education: The National Academy of Interior of Ukraine in Kyiv
Profession: Lawyer, human rights activist
Did you know? Breus can cycle 120 kilometers a day, and does so when he wants to visit his sister in Chernihiv.
Serhiy Breus believes that being an effective civil rights activist requires more than just a law degree — it’s about one’s state of mind. There are people who want to help those in need simply by applying the force of law and justice — but a rebellious streak can also be of use, as Breus found when he was studying law at the National Academy of Interior.
There, Breus was irked by the military-style discipline. After openly questioning university commanders in front of students and lecturers, Breus was blocked from running for office in the student union.
However, his defiance won him the trust of his fellow students. He went on to help defend their rights and interests after being voted to head a student scientific society — a body over which university management had no influence.
Breus established the scientific society as a champion of student rights and interests, and even won over the leadership of the university: When he graduated in 2014, university commanders recognized his grit, describing him as a champion. Since graduation, he has been devoted to “enhancing people’s commitment to the legal way of resolving problems.”
The student activism was good preparation for the work Breus is doing now — providing free legal aid to vulnerable citizens. He started as a lowly rank-and-file specialist of one of the city’s free legal aid centers. But when Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko visited the center one day, one of the elderly clients approached the minister and said that Breus was the only person working effectively. Within six months, in April 2016, Breus was appointed as the acting director of another such center in Kyiv. He was made its director in March 2018.
Breus acts proactively, cooperating with unions and societies that help people with disabilities, orphans, victims of violence and the elderly. The lawyers visit such groups and lecture on relevant issues of law. The center has created legal materials in Braille, employed a sign language translator and is helping people to understand how legal aid works and how to apply it correctly.
All these achievements would not have been possible without his team, to whom “he can forgive everything but corruption.” This sin will result in “dismissal of the offender and my personal resignation.”
Breus is not considering politics now. Instead, he wants Ukraine to have a properly functioning legal system that is not manipulated by populist politicians. He dreams of a nation in which “citizens would not be afraid to speak out, and the state would not be afraid to listen to them and to react accordingly.”
