KChR's MPs offer to introduce criminal penalties for justification of Stalin's repressions

The MPs and public figures of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) speak in favour of the adoption by the Russian State Duma of a bill on criminal punishment for justification of Stalin's repressions. According to their version, it will contribute to the harmonization of interethnic relations in the country.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that residents of Northern Caucasus are finding, at the background of the current lawlessness of bureaucrats and law enforcers, more and more positive traits in Stalin's rule, said political analysts Rinat Mukhametov and Ruslan Kurbanov.

According to a poll conducted by the Analytical "Levada-Centre", almost a third of those interviewed approve Stalin's deportations. The survey polled 1600 people in 48 regions of the country.

The practice of forced resettlement of entire nations is a grave crime that breaks the fundamentals of the international law, says the explanatory note to the Resolution on the legislative initiative of the KChR's MPs.

The initiative is an attempt to divert people's attention from the difficult economic situation in the country ahead of the elections to the State Duma, said Sergey Polyakov, a political scientist and the director of the Centre for Social and Political Studies and Programmes.

The adoption of this bill will be a logical culmination of the process of the society's getting rid of the totalitarian legacy of Stalin's image, said Azret Karaev, the director of the Karachay Branch of the "Elbrusoid" Fund and a member of the Public Chamber of the KChR.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.