Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Pussy Riot: "Russia 'returns to Stalin-era show trials'"; "Little progress has been made on de-Stalinisation"

http://www.france24.com/en/20121030-russia-returns-stalin-era-show-trials-memorial

Russia 'returns to Stalin-era show trials': Memorial

"AFP - Russia's leaders are using Stalin-era tactics against the opposition including show trials and camp sentences, one of its most authoritative rights groups warned Tuesday.


Memorial rights group slammed the treatment of activists after two members of the Pussy Riot feminist rock group were sent to prison camps for a protest against President Vladimir Putin and several protest leaders were charged in criminal probes.

"The events of recent weeks show that in its dialogue with the opposition, the Russian authorities intend to rely on the language of repression -- arrests, courts, camps," Memorial said.

.................

Both President Vladimir Putin and his predecessor Dmitry Medvedev have spoken out against Stalin-era repression but only sporadically and Russia has resisted opening up its archives from the period.

In a rare comment in 2007, Putin called the deaths of those killed in purges a "particular tragedy" for Russia, while Medvedev as president called for a programme of de-Stalinisation.

Little progress has been made on de-Stalinisation, Memorial's chairman Arseny Roginsky said Tuesday."

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