News by Countries

Stalin regime victims remembered during Belarus march

15.10.2007

MINSK, Oct 28, 2007 (AFP) - A thousand people marched from the centre of Minsk on Sunday to a site at the edge of the Belarussian capital where tens of thousands of victims of the repressive Stalin regime were buried.
The march, authorised by Belorussian authorities, was headed by the daughter of the country's poet Todar Klashtorny, who was executed during the Stalin era.
Demonstrators held up placards reading '1937-2007', 'Communism on trial', and 'in memory of the victims of Russian-Bolshevist terrorism'.
Members of Malady Front, a youth opposition organisation, also marched, holding signs with their leader Zmitr Dashkevich.
The demonstration has been held annually since 1988 when Belarus was still a Soviet republic. The first one was dispersed by the police on the orders of the Communist Party.
According to various estimates, between 50,000 and 300,000 people were buried in the Kuropaty woods in 1937-1938.

Back to List