crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes
The most important was the law “on rehabilitation of victims of political repression”, which was
adopted on 18 October 1991. The introductory part to the law declared: “During the Soviet rule millions
of people were the victims of totalitarian state’s self-will, suffered under the repression because of
political and religious beliefs, and social, national and other reasons.”
The Supreme Soviet condemned the terror and mass persecution of its nation for many years as
incompatible with the idea of law and justice; it expressed deep sympathy with the victims of unfounded
repression, along with their relatives and close family members, and declared that it has a firm intention
to acquire realistic guarantees to ensure legality and human rights.
The objective of this law is the rehabilitation of all victims of political repression who have been
exposed to such repression in the territory of the Russian Federation since 25 October (7 November)
1917, recovery of civil rights, elimination of all other consequences of self-will, and the assurance that
material and moral damages shall be repaid in accordance with the available possibilities. 7
The law included a wide definition of “political repression”; it described the circle of persons
who may be rehabilitated, defined the method of rehabilitation, determined the right of rehabilitated
persons to receive monetary compensation, and to acquire some other relief. The quoted law settled
the issue of justice recovery in relation to the victims of unfounded political repression, pointed the
way to elimination of consequences of self-will, determined the manner and amount of possible
compensations.
The search for “reconciliation with the past” proposes expansion of objective information on
authoritative and totalitarian regimes and their crimes. Russian historians have done a lot of work in this
direction. Collections of documents were published, which disclose the decision-making process during
Stalinism, mechanisms of mass repressions, functioning of the GULAG system (Main Directorate of
Corrective Labour Camps), investigation of the Orthodox Church representatives, and anti-Semitic
campaign methods revealed in Stalin’s last stage of life. All these documents are available to the
researchers, as well as to ordinary readers. A visible result of joint activities of the Russian and Polish
historians is the publication of documents in four volumes, which highlight the shooting of professional
soldiers in Katyn in the spring of 1940. In March 2008 the international conference on the topic of
“Totalitarian and authoritarian regimes in Europe” was organised at the Moscow State Institute of
International Relations. The conference participants discussed common moves and character specifics
of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. Much attention was paid to analysis of the crimes of nondemocratic
regimes from the viewpoint of international law.
It is important that the truth about the past is handed over to the youth, who are often poorly
informed about the crimes of Stalinism. Here, means of mass information play an important role,
together with school education. Two television programs aired in 2007, which present the fates of
GULAG prisoners: Lenin’s Last Will based on the work by V. Šalam and The First Circle based on
the work by A. Solzhenitsyn, may be considered achievements of Russian television. These television
programs encouraged the interest of viewers.
It is obvious that every country created its own complex programme for education of nontolerance
towards political aggression, nationalism and xenophobia. Within this context, it is important
that following the rule of law, respect of democratic principles and human rights become rooted in the
society. It seems that the European Commission could create general recommendations in this direction.
The truth about the past is not supposed to separate but to unite the Europeans as the victims of criminal
acts committed by authoritarian and totalitarian regimes.
In conclusion, I would like to mention that the “EU Justice and Home Affairs Council Framework
Decision” refers to the fight against certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia. The
occurrence of nationalism and xenophobia has been becoming a serious threat in a number of European
States, including Russia. Decisive actions against the phenomena like racism, nationalism and
xenophobia are required.
7
Official messages of the Congress of People’s Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of RSFSR, No. 44, 31 October 1991.
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