Valery Novoselsky, Romani activist and founder of the Roma Virtual Network, has passed away

The Roma Times news server cites a report published by the Romani editors of Swedish Radio that Romani activist Valery Novoselsky of Israel, who founded Roma Virtual Network, passed away on 20 August 2016 at the age of 46. Mr Novoselsky passed away while attending a Romani music festival in Riga, Latvia.

Mr Novoselsky was born on 15 April 1970 in Dniepropetrovsk, Ukraine, USSR. He lived there until 1993.

From 1993 to 1995 he lived in Moscow, after which he moved to Israel. In July 1999 Mr Novoselsky established Roma Virtual Network and pioneered Romani community presence on the Internet.

Through several different listservs Mr Novoselsky distributed information from and about Romani communities to the entire world. In the year 2000 he became a member of the International Romani Union.

He was also an active member in other European Roma institutions. In addition to Romani activism, Mr Novoselsky contributed to the work of many public initiatives, attending conferences and similar events.