US and EU Condemn Act of Vandalism in Kurapaty :: Charter'97 :: News

The US and European Union condemned the fact of intended damage to the memorial complex in Kurapaty. “The unknown vandals scratched a swastika on an icon, overturned or damaged more than a dozen of crosses, and once again damaged the memorial bench, a gift of US President Clinton in 1994,” the statement of November 30 reads. Te statement was disseminated by the Great Britain Embassy in Belarus on behalf of the US and EU.

As the BelaPAN informs, the traces of vandalism were found in the wooded area in Kurapaty, a North-Western part of Minsk on November 29. An icon of Our Lady of Kurapaty has been desecrated; the Clinton’s bench (a monument “To Belarusians from the American people”), a memorial plate “To victims of Stalin regime” has disappeared, many crosses and other memorial signed defiled.

“These crosses and a bench had been installed in remembrance of dozens of thousands of innocent Belarusians, victims of the NKVD terror, put to death in Kurapaty. Defilement of these memorials insults the memory of the dead and disgraces the Belarusian nation as a whole,” the statement reads.

Acts of vandalism in Kurapaty are taking place recurrently. In this connection the representatives of the civil society many times accused the state of indifference to this problem, and provide its guarding.