Russia is being propelled down a familiar tragic path. Statement from the International Society ''Memorial''

[Memorial.Rus]

Russia is being propelled down a familiar tragic path.

Statement from the International Society ''Memorial''

Thirty-eight years ago, on 30 October 1974, prisoners from camps in the Mordovia and Perm regions, along with those from Vladimir Prison, marked a 'Day of the Political Prisoner' for the first time in the USSR with hunger strikes and other acts of protest.

Today, when we mark the 30 October, we are observing not only this Soviet inheritance, renamed 'Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression', but also a 'Day of the Political Prisoner' for those still imprisoned in modern Russia.

The events of the last few weeks have shown that, in their dialog with the opposition, the Russian authorities are determined to use the language of repression; arrests, trials, camps. Once again, as in the 20s and 30s, the experience of fabricated political trials is in demand, rumours are circulating about 'foreign agents', and there's a demand, it turns out, for the recent 'Caucasian' practice of kidnapping people and secret prisons.

Once again Russia is being propelled down a familiar tragic path.

We are not appealing to our leaders' sense of historical responsibility: it is evident that they lack such a feeling. We are not even calling upon the powerful Russian elite's sense of self-preservation: in order for such a feeling to exist at least a rough conception of reality is necessary, and the current elite entirely lacks this understanding.

We turn to society as a whole, relying on the maturity of the public. We have no immediate strategy ready to prevent Russia from slipping into new cycles of revolution and state terrorism. Together, we should look for ways to resist the senseless and self-destructive steps being undertaken by the authorities. We feel that the one thing in which all forces of society should be united, regardless of political orientation, is in the unconditional rejection of violence in all its forms. Above all, we need calm, wisdom and stability.

We can protect freedom by relying on justice, not on force.

The Governing Board of the International Society ''Memorial''

30 October 2012