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Council formed to coordinate research into Communist crimes in Belarus

A council was established in Minsk on Tuesday for coordinating NGOs’ work to study Communist crimes in Belarus and efforts to commemorate their victims.

The council comprises representatives of a number of organizations, including the unregistered Belarusian Christian Democracy party and an opposition youth group called Malady Front. Its lineup also includes prominent historian Yakaw Basin and Vyachaslaw Siwchyk and Uladzimir Ramanowski of the Memorial group of the Belarusian Voluntary Society for Historical and Cultural Heritage Protection.

The council is open to organizations and individual researchers that study Communist crimes in the country, said Vital Rymashewski, a co-chairman of the Belarusian Christian Democracy’s founding committee.

The body is expected to hold at least one meeting every month to discuss events, new research material, contentious issues and plans, according to Mr. Rymashewski.

Valeryya Charnamortsava, a coordinator of the Pakayanne group, was elected the council’s executive secretary.

The woman also runs http://www.represii-by.info, a website that provides the latest news on the Communist regime’s crimes, recollections by victims, images, videos, and a map of Stalin-era mass execution sites. //BelaPAN