Press Release, 5.10.2023

Photo: Monument to Joseph Stalin in Velikiye Luki / Photo from open sources

Artur Gaiduk, MP of the Pskov Regional Assembly of Deputies from Yabloko, points out that the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Pskov Region, which received for consideration and response his August appeal to the Public Prosecutor General’s Office in connection with the unauthorised installation of a monument to Joseph Stalin in the city of Velikiye Luky, ignored the failure of the organisers of the installation of the monument to comply with the requirements of the Regulations of the Velikiye Luky City Duma on the procedure for installing monuments, memorial signs and memorials boards. The Regulations comply with federal law.

The regional Public Prosecutor’s Office considered that the monument to Stalin was located on a private territory (in front of the entrance to the Mikron plant), and for this reason the organisers allegedly should not have coordinated its installation with anyone. In addition, the Public Prosecutor’s Office called the eight-meter tall monument a “small architectural form”.

It should be noted that Stalin’s repressions were recognised as a crime by decisions of the highest bodies of power of the USSR and Russia. The monument was erected two kilometers from the place (in front of the entrance to the Mikron plant), on the territory of the Velikiye Luki fortress, where there was an NKVD prison before the war, where thousands of innocent Soviet people at the behest of Joseph Stalin and ended their lives in the years of the Great Terror. Erecting a monument to Stalin represents a direct insult to the memory of millions of victims of the repressions carried out under the leadership of Stalin, who even personally approved the “execution lists”.

Arthur Gaiduk writes in his appeal to Public Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov that the head of the administration of Velikiye Luki, Andrei Belyaev, knew that the monument to Stalin was erected illegally, but did not take any measures. This is confirmed by his letter to the Director of the Mikron plant, in which Belyaev refers to the Regulations adopted by the Duma and writes that “actions that violate the requirements of the municipal legal act are unacceptable,” without putting forward any demands to the owners of the territory of plant where the monument was erected.

“Despite these obvious circumstances, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Pskov region did not properly respond to the identified violations, did not take prosecutorial response measures to eliminate the identified violations, and did not bring the perpetrators to justice.

In addition, the regional Public Prosecutor’s Office completely ignored the legal position set out in my appeal, based on the current legislation of the Russian Federation regulating the issues of de-Stalinisation of the country’s socio-political life, without assessing my legal argumentation,” the deputy writes in his appeal.

In his first appeal (https://eng.yabloko.ru/31736-2/ ) to Public Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, Artur Gaiduk cited the provisions of presidential decrees adopted in the 1990s and currently in force on additional measures to restore justice for victims of repressions that took place in the 1930 – 1940s and early 1950s, declaring them illegal, and criminal repressive acts against peoples subjected to forced relocation, on the restoration of the rights of all victims of political repression of the 1920 – 1950s, on the rehabilitation of victims of political repression, and on the rehabilitation of repressed peoples.

In a new appeal to the Public Prosecutor General, Artur Gaiduk demands:

– give a legal assessment of the installation of a monument to Stalin on the territory of the city of Velikiye Luki and take prosecutorial response measures aimed at dismantling the monument;

– give a legal assessment of the actions of officials of the Velikiye Luki city administration, the Mikron Experimental Plant, the initiators of the installation of the monument to Stalin on the territory of the Mikron plant, and other persons who took part in the adoption and execution of the illegal decision to install the monument;

– give a legal assessment of the actions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Pskov region in terms of its compliance with the established procedure for conducting supervisory procedures, which the regional Public Prosecutor’s Office should have followed when considering the issue on the merits.

The monument to Stalin was solemnly opened in Velikiye Luki on 15 August at the initiative of the Russky Vityaz (Russian Knight) organisation, which positions itself as a foundation for the preservation of cultural heritage. On the initiative of this foundation, a monument to Ivan the Terrible appeared in the city of Alexandrov, Vladimir Region.

Earlier, Boris Vishnevsky, MP of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg from Yabloko, also contacted (https://eng.yabloko.ru/32026-2/ ) the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Pskov region. The regional Public Prosecutor’s Office sent a response to Vishnevsky that exactly copied the response to deputy Arthur Gaiduk.