Prague, 25 February 2016. Sixty-eight years ago today, the Communist party of Czechoslovakia seized power in a violent coup, instating 41 years of totalitarian rule and massive human rights violations. The Platform of European Memory and Conscience demands that the Czech Stalinist Communist party which has today publicly glorified the crimes of Stalinism, apologise publicly for the atrocities committed against fellow citizens between 1948-1989.
The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, which holds 15% of seats in the lower house of Parliament and has 3 Members of the European Parliament, issued a statement today praising the legacy of the coup of 1948 and “valuing the work and selflessness of the generations of constructors of the first form of socialism“ (sic!). The Stalinist party was registered in 1990 as a territorial organisation of the Communist party of Czechoslovakia and is its direct, non-reformed legal successor.
The non-Communist citizens of Czechoslovakia and the hundreds of thousands of victims of Communism who were executed, killed, tortured, imprisoned, dispossessed and persecuted in many different ways have never received as little as an apology from the Czech Communist party. The Communists only issued one apology in the past – to own fellow party members!
“The international democratic community must stand up against those who celebrate gross human rights violations and the destruction of democracy, particularly if they are a parliamentary party within the European Union. We call on the Czech Communist party to apologise immediately and publicly for the statements made today,“ says Platform President Göran Lindblad.
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Dear Madam, dear Sir,
Please find enclosed today's press release of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience on the anniversary of the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948.
Yours sincerely,
Neela Winkelmann
Dr. Neela Winkelmann
Managing Direktor
Platform of European Memory and Conscience
Londýnská 43
120 00 Praha 2
Czech Republic
tel.: +420-222 561 053
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www.memoryandconscience.eu
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