Moscow holds picket in memory of deportation victims

Yesterday, on February 23, in Moscow, near Andrei Sakharov's Centre, at the monument to Berlin wall collapse, a picket was held in memory of the victims of Stalin's deportation of Vainakhs and other nations and in protest of current violations of human rights in Northern Caucasus.

"Every year on February 23, we come here to commemorate the people deported by Stalin's regime. On February 23, 1944, Chechens and Ingushes were taken in cattle railway cars to Kazakhstan steppes. By different sources, as a result of this repression, from 30 to 60 percent of Vainakhs were lost - from cold, famine, illnesses and violence. The peoples of the Baltics and Western Ukraine, Germans from Volga region and nations that lived in the Caucasus and Crimea, were also subjected to complete or partial deportation," Irina Vologina, one of the action organizers and activist of the Committee of Anti-War Actions, explained to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The action was attended by about 30 activists of the Committee of Anti-War Actions, Anti-War club, Solidarity Union with Political Prisoners and Human Rights Centre "Memorial".

They held headers and posters: "Kadyrov's tyranny - new act of Chechens' tragedy", "Chechnya, forgive us" and others.

The demonstrators lit candles and brought flowers to lay down in memory of the victims. Appealed by Victor Sokirko, veteran of the anti-war movement and former political prisoner, people took off their headgear and held a minute of silence.

Five young Ingushes also came to the action. They rejected the picketers' offer to hold posters with them and asked not to film and photograph them; they seemed as if scared by something.

"Several times a militia patrol walked around the Ingush guys; it seemed to me that they were afraid of persecutions and incorrect actions," Nadir Fatov, a picketer who was holding Stanislav Markelov's portrait in black frame, told the "Caucasian Knot" reporter.