People Gather in Stockholm to Support the Council of Europe’s Resolution Against Communist Crimes

The Council of Europe held a meeting in Strasbourg on the 25th of January to discuss and vote on a resolution condemning the crimes of communist regimes worldwide. The resolution was generated due to an investigative report on the necessity of worldwide condemnation of the totalitarian regimes of communism. The report was written by Goran Lindblad, a member of the Swedish parliament and researcher for the Council of Europe. In order to express support for this resolution, the people of Stockholm held a meeting at Normanstorg square in spite of heavy snow on the 21st.

Despite the heavy snow, the assembly received warm support from the Stockholm people. A lot of passers-by obtained leaflets and then signed a petition to show their support.

The Resolution says that the totalitarian regimes of the Communist Party killed more than 100 million people (sixty five million in China, twenty million in the former Soviet Union and others). This number showed that the crimes of the Communist Party far exceeded those of the fascist regime of Nazism. Although the Communist Party committed terrible crimes, it has never been condemned worldwide. No step was taken to investigate and try the leaders of the world’s communist parties.

The countries still ruled by the Communist Party are home to infringements of human rights and the persecution of the people. The resolution recommended that the Council of Europe condemns the crimes of the Communist Party publicly and requires the investigation and bringing to trial of the leaders of the Communist Party. The resolution requires former countries ruled by the Communist Party in Eastern Europe to disclose the historical truth and write into the history books the crimes of the Communist Party to allow younger generations to learn about their history and prevent the tragedy from recurring.

Swedish parliament member Ana-Mana came from the former Romania. She told people how her whole family suffered persecution. Jurilina, who came from Estonia, is the author of Behind Gorbachev. He said a lot of people did not know about the crimes of the Communist Party and that it is very necessary to condemn the crimes of the communist party publicly so that people know the danger. Alex is editor-in-chief of Miscelaneas de Cuba in Spain. He fled from the totalitarian communist regime of Cuba. He made a speech and condemned the crimes of the evil communist party of Cuba.

Chen Maiping, chairman of China Independent Pen Association, condemned the propaganda and information control tactics of the totalitarian Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime and condemned its persecution of human rights activists and democracy advocates. A Chinese representative Ms Zhang cited such examples as Gao Zhisheng, Zhang Zhixin and Zhao Ziyang to point out the nature of the CCP: a person will be persecuted whether one is a member or not and whether one has faith or not.

Dan Alforden, chairman of UMEAFN, read a letter from International Society for Human Rights and made a speech to express his support. In his view, if the European Parliament discusses the resolution to condemn the CCP publicly it will have a great impact in improving the human rights situation in the world.

Some Falun Gong practitioners also attended the event to talk to people about the almost seven years of persecution against Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party. Over 2,800 death cases have been officially recorded although the true figure is thought to be several times higher. The CCP has not let up in its campaign to “eradicate” Falun Gong, making use of all available methods that the party has developed in its fifty year tyrannical rule of China, including torture, brainwashing, propaganda, murder, violence and rape.

The Council of Europe was established on the 5th of May 1949. At that time, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Italy and Great Britain signed the Council of Europe's regulations and announced its establishment in London. Council of Europe is headquartered in Strasbourg. For over fifty years, the Council of Europe has expanded progressively and it now has forty six member states.