Chechen authorities dismantle Memorial to deportation victims in Grozny

The Memorial to victims of the deportation in 1944 under Stalin's order, which was built in 1992 in Grozny, is now being dismantled. The gravestones monuments, which constituted the main part of the composition, are transferred to the territory of the complex, dedicated to the memory of the fallen employees of the Chechen power structures, located in Akhmat Kadyrov Square.

According to the International Society "Memorial", in 1943-44, 485,000 residents of Chechnya and Ingushetia were deported.

The sudden and secret transfer of the gravestones from the memorial complex to a new location causes a negative reaction of local public organizations and ordinary citizens. Many treat it as mockery over the people's memory and an attempt to obliterate the entire epoch from the history of Chechnya.

The head of one of the nongovernmental organizations of Chechnya said that in spring 2008 the city authorities headed by the former Mayor of Grozny Muslim Khuchiev made an attempt to dismantle the memorial. Then, it failed because of the reaction from the public. But already then they said that the place where the memorial was built, had been sold for a large sum to a certain businessman, who intended to build an office building there, said the source.

Let us remind you that February 23 this year will mark the 70th anniversary of the deportation of Chechens and Ingushes to Kazakhstan and Central Asia. In 2011, the republic's leadership decided to mark this date on May 10, the day when the former head of the republic Akhmat Kadyrov was buried; he was killed on May 9, 2004, in a terror act, committed at a stadium in Grozny.