On the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repressions, the head of the Human Rights Council under the President, Valery Fadeev, stated that there are no political repressions in Russia today. «What we are seeing now — yes, we have a difficult, tough situation, we are at war with the West. And some minimal restrictions on those who actually side with the enemy are not repressions, they are minimal sanitary measures», — he is quoted by «Interfax».
Meanwhile, despite pressure from law enforcement and authorities' refusals to approve events, memorial actions for victims of political repressions are taking place in Russia, drawing parallels with today.
Participants of the rally in Kirov laid flowers at the monument to the victims of repressions. Residents of Novosibirsk also attended an approved rally. As «7×7»* writes, police prohibited people from displaying banners, but a local activist held a solo picket with a banner «Innocent free thought has no place in prison and grave».
Members and supporters of «Yabloko» read the names of the murdered at the monument to the victims of Stalinist repressions at the Arkhangelsk cemetery in Kazan. In Magadan, an official memorial event for the repressed with name readings and flower laying took place at the «Masks of Sorrow» memorial. Flowers were also laid at the memorial to the repressed in Ukhta, and an event was held in Syktyvkar.
This year, public events were not approved by the authorities in Moscow, Vologda, Ulyanovsk, and Tomsk. The website of the «Return of Names» campaign was blocked in Russia.
Dissidents Kronid Lyubarsky and Alexey Murzhenko proposed making October 30 the day of the political prisoner in 1974, while serving time in Dubravlag. On this day, along with other prisoners of Mordovian and Perm political camps, as well as Vladimir prison, they agreed to hold hunger strikes in solidarity with all political prisoners in the USSR.
From 1974 until the late 1980s, political prisoners held hunger strikes annually on October 30. On October 30, 1989, activists of «Memorial»* in Moscow conducted one of the first street actions in memory of the victims of state terror — encircling the KGB building on Lubyanka with a live chain. A year later, on this day, the Solovetsky Stone was unveiled on Lubyanka Square. However, very soon this day again became not a day of remembrance for the victims of political repressions, but a day of struggle against current political persecutions, notes «Memorial».
The independent human rights project «Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial» recognized 1697 people as victims of Russian authorities (since 2009), of which 777 are under persecution. The real numbers may be significantly higher, as not all people's stories become public.
*Recognized in Russia as «foreign agents».
Photo: 7x7