Voices of Support, Awards and Recognition

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  • Parliamentarian Representing Bosnia and Herzegovina: "We need to launch a national awareness campaign about crimes committed in the name of communist ideology"

    Justice must be accessible for everyone regardless of national, religious, political or ideological background. Victims of communist terror must obtain moral and material satisfaction. Selective justice and the feeling of injustice which results from it can be dangerous for a democracy, especially a society in transition, and it can slow down the democratic process. Judicial bodies must process all communist crimes and violations of human rights to return dignity and justice to victims of communist regimes.
  • WOIPFG Launches Investigation of Sujiatun Concentration Camp Authorities

    The statement said that according to informants and initial verification, the Chinese Communist Party regime set up a secret concentration camp in the Sujiatun district of Shenyang city. The camp is suspected to specialise in detaining and killing practitioners to harvest their bodily organs for profit. The camp has a crematory and corpses are cremated at the camp. Reportedly, several thousand practitioners have been transferred to the camp from other regions. They are being detained in the camp and face slaughter at any time so their organs can be harvested for profit.
  • French Parliamentarian: The communist parties of the twentieth century are tyrannical

    Mr Legendre said that the Council of Europe denounced crimes against liberty, the world over, part-session after part-session. Its stated mission is to maintain human rights. How could the Assembly not condemn crimes of communists when it had condemned fascists and Nazis? It is essential to condemn these totalitarian communist regimes. It is important to remember the policies the Communist Party had followed in the terrible 20th century, doing away with elections and imprisoning and executing citizens. The Council of Europe could not remain indifferent to those actions.
  • Moldovan Parliamentarian: Hundreds of millions of people suffered under communism

    Over 30 million people were sent from Moldova to prison in Siberia, many of whom had committed no crime other than to be Christian. Mr Diacov had been born in Siberia in those circumstances and had had to explain many times why he was born there and why members of his family had lived, died and been buried there. He had told the committee that the Assembly was looking at the matter rather late in the day. There must be a full and proper condemnation of the crimes of communist regimes. It was necessary to agree the report to ensure that future generations did not suffer in the same way.
  • Ukrainian Parliamentarian: The anti-human communist regime caused the deaths of millions

    When Ukrainians learned of this debate at the Council of Europe, they asked their delegation to be brave enough to speak out and condemn the communist regime. They were children of the victims of the red terror, which reigned in Ukraine for more than 70 years. Those who fought against the regime were arrested. Representatives of the regime used the KGB to draw up lists of “enemies of the people”. The communist regime in Ukraine committed the most terrible crime of the 20th century. It created an artificial famine, causing the death by starvation of much of the population. Some 30% of those who died were children.
  • Many German MPs Express their Concern about the Persecution of Falun Gong

    It was said in a letter from MP Alois Karl on February 24th, “I personally think that it is no doubt to protect general human rights. Moreover, I think Germany has a responsibility to protect human rights.” He suggested Falun Gong practitioners to list the details of the persecution. “According to my experiences, the detailed personal cases are extremely important. Do not underestimate the efforts of providing detailed description of every persecution instance. The German government, I and my colleagues would talk to those representatives of related countries. If it’s necessary, we could give direct help to the victims. ”
  • Hungarian Parliamentarian: “We are talking not about beliefs but about the most horrible crimes”

    "I do not understand why people on the left do not realise that we are talking about not ideology and belief but the most terrible crimes committed against human beings in our continent. I am worried that this debate could be used for various domestic political purposes. There is no problem in Denmark or the Netherlands – nor, fortunately, in Hungary as we do not have communists anymore – but there could be a problem in other countries. I hope that the Assembly will unite in condemning the criminal acts of communism."
  • Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group: European Citizens Condemn the CCP Persecution of Falun Gong

    Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group (FGHRWG) recently published the experiences of several practitioners who were unlawfully detained in labour camps of the Chinese Communist Party. In the electronic report, practitioner Wang Bin and Chen Ying's stories were highlighted. The report received wide feedback from all over Europe. Reprinted in this article are some of the comments made by the readers to the FGHRWG Web site.
  • Georgian Parliamentarian: “Wherever the communists gained power their rule finished in bloodshed and terror”

    "The inheritance of communist occupation is vivid in my country, as it is in any country where the communists ruled. Mr Lukashenko may not be a clear-cut communist, but he is the result of a communist regime. It has already been said that communists still rule in several countries where they continue to prosecute individuals and kill people because of their beliefs. Recently, members of the Ukrainian delegation cried when it was announced that an international document would be prepared to recognise the genocide of the 1930s. It is important that moral responsibility is taken for such crimes."
  • Bulgarian Parliamentarian: “Condemnation of the crimes of totalitarian communist regimes was necessary”

    "Those crimes were inspired by ideology. A number of left-wing parties had not found the strength or motivation to condemn ex-communist regimes. The report would give a moral boost to researchers and non-governmental organisations investigating communist crimes. It could have the same effect as the introduction of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre had had on those investigating Nazi crimes. It was essential that the archives of the security services in communist countries were opened; otherwise, it would not be possible to understand the full extent of their crimes."
  • Danish Human Rights Organisation Asks the Danish Government to Support the Relay Hunger Strike in China

    The hunger strike was initiated by the famous human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who is known for his untiring struggle for the persecuted in China. Most commentators today deny China’s claims that the human rights situation in China is improving—in reality it has become much worse in recent years. For a long time the world has stood passively by as Communist China has persecuted large sections of its population, like Falun Gong, Christians and Buddhists. Gao Zhisheng himself recently commented: “When the Nazis slaughtered the Jews, they were condemned by the world. But the Communist Party has killed more than eighty million people, thirteen times more than the number of Jews and the world says nothing.”
  • Latvian Parliamentarian: “The ideology of communism...destroyed the moral value of human nature”

    "I want to express my appreciation to the Assembly for its decision to call for an international debate on and condemnation of totalitarian communist regimes. We support the beginning of an international debate on the crimes that the communist regimes in central and eastern Europe committed in the past century. The crimes committed by totalitarian communist regimes must be investigated and those who perpetrated them must be brought to trial, as happened with the horrible crimes committed by the Nazis."
  • Estonian Parliamentarian: ”People have waited for this report for a long time, because crimes against humanity cannot be forgotten”

    "There is a great chance that, for the first time ever, the crimes of totalitarian communist regimes will be officially condemned by a major international forum – the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe...Today is important not only for the history of the Council of Europe, but for the millions of people who either suffered or still suffer under cruel, totalitarian communist regimes. It is our duty to recognise their suffering and those people fully deserve our sympathy and understanding. If we adopt this document, we will be remembered as politicians who not only spoke about but truly served human rights and the rule of law."
  • Czech Parliamentarian: "I was surprised by the striking realisation of communism’s black history"

    "In the 1950s, people were killed in our country as well as other communist countries. In the 1980s, the terror was psychological. However, there can be no victims – hard or soft – without representatives of a regime and without murderers. There can be no representatives of a regime or murderers without servants of the system. That is why we are discussing the totalitarian crimes of communism after 15 years. Condemnation of Nazism was quick because it took only months for the world’s community to unify against it. There is a difference in the case of communism."
  • Swedish Parliamentarian: "Stand up for people who suffered under these terrible dictatorships"

    We can see the same effect today in communist China, where the regime is very tough against anyone with a different opinion. Falun Gong and certain religious denominations are very badly treated in China. We can see that the same thing will happen there, with many dissidents in opposition. That is good, because I could bet you €100 that the Chinese communist regime will be gone within five years. There are defecting diplomats; we saw the same thing in the Soviet Union. Many people are leaving the communist party; the same thing happened before the fall of the Soviet Union’s iron curtain.