Russian Democratic Party YABLOKOYabloko held an online marathon in memory of the victims of political repression and actions throughout the country

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Yabloko held an online marathon in memory of the victims of political repression and actions throughout the country

Press Release, 31.10.2023

On the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression, Yabloko held an online marathon “People, Don’t Kill Each Other!”, during which hundreds of people read out loud the names of victims of Stalin’s repressions of 1930s-1940s, remembered their ancestors who died during the terror, and showed places of mass executions in the Russian regions. The action brought together Yabloko members and civil activists from 62 regions of Russia.

Grigory Yavlinsky, Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko, spoke at the marathon online from the party office. He read out loud the list of the names of victims of repressions of the Soviet period, and recalled that according to the Memorial human rights centre, there were 192 people imprisoned for political reasons and 416 people persecuted for religious beliefs in Russia; 634 more people were prosecuted without imprisonment. Probably 99 people were not included in these lists. As of 1 September, 2018, the general list of political prisoners included 46 people, and those persecuted for religious beliefs included 137 people. An increase in the number of political prisoners in Russia has been observed since 2019, when the Memorial human rights centre compiled the first lists. Until 2022 the number of prisoners increased, mainly due to the group of so-called “religious” prisoners, but from 24 February, 2022, there was a huge qualitative increase in the overall list.

“Everyone needs to understand this. This is our present and future. Everlasting memory to those who died. And huge support to all those who are isolated today due to their political and human convictions,” Yavlinsky said.

Valery Borshchyov, Soviet dissident, Co-Chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group, and a member of the Yabloko Political Committee, believes that most of the victims found themselves under repression because they thought differently from everyone else.

“They thought differently and wanted to live differently. They felt differently. They were dissidents,” Borshchyov stressed. “I hope that the fact that now we commemorate them will help prevent restoration. Although it has been taking place… Vladimir Kara-Murza… What a huge imprisonment term [they gave him]! And how is this different from an execution?.. Let us remember those who died, pray for them and prevent a repetition.”

Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov noted that in modern Russia it is especially important to remember the victims of the Great Terror of 1930s-1940s:

“It is important now to do everything possible so that the memory of the victims of Stalin’s terror, which today the authorities are stubbornly trying to forget by all means, does not fall into oblivion. Because the only way not to repeat the mistakes of the past and not slide into another 1937 [the year of launch of the terror] is to remember these mistakes and be able to draw the right conclusions from them. And then, perhaps, we will be able to build a country in which pressure on dissidents will be categorically unacceptable, and a policy built on the absolute value of human life and freedom will be always the priority.”

Moscow

In addition to reading out loud the names of those repressed as part of the Yabloko marathon, regional branches of the party also joined the online action organised by the Memorial human right centre, which took place the day before, on 29 October. Yabloko members and civil activists also laid flowers at the memorials to victims of political repression. The Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko organised an excursion along the last route of three repressed citizens of Chelyabinsk, and also held a charity poetry evening in support of political prisoners of our time. The Novgorod branch of the party held a rally at the monument to victims of political repression.

St.Petersburg

In Velikiye Luki, Veliky Novgorod, Voronezh, Kaliningrad, Krasnoyarsk, Pskov, and St. Petersburg, the events in memory of victims of political repression ended with actions of writing letters to current political prisoners. In Moscow, letters were written to political prisoners during an online marathon.