The removal of wooden crosses in Kurapaty is nothing but ‘improvement’, Alyaksandr Miranovich, head of Baraulyany forestry, told state-run news agency BelTA.
On Thursday morning, bulldozers and other building machinery were driven to Kurapaty Forest near Minsk, where the NKVD, Stalin’s secret police executed and buried up to 250,000 persons in the 30-40s. About 70 wooden crosses have been rooted out; over a dozen activists and politicians defending Kurapaty have been detained, including Pavel Sevyarynets, Zmitser Dashkevich, Dzyanis Urbanovich, Valyantsina Yaromenak, Nina Bahinskaya.
According to him, there will be a fence at the place were the crosses were ‘illegally’ set up.
However, opposition MP Hanna Kanapatskaya who were at the scene when the crosses were being knocked down told Belsat TV that Miranovich refused to answer her questions and to talk to her at all.
“In a country where Parliament actually works, today would be the last day of Miranovich’s being in office,” the lawmaker said.
Mr Miranovich might be an official, but he does not know the Belarusian law, Kanapatskaya believes. In her opinion, Miranovich violated the president’s instruction to communicate with citizens and involve them into civil activity. Instead, officials hide from people and decline comment, she stressed.
Hundreds of crosses were installed by Belarusian activists who felt it their duty to pay the tribute to the memory of the executed. It was not until 2018 that the authorities directed their attention to Kurapaty: an official memorial to the victims was erected at the order of the Federation of the Trade Unions. Back in 1989, the BSSR Council of Ministers signed a decree to perpetuate the memory of the victims in Kurapaty. In 1993, the memorial was granted the status of historical and cultural value of international importance. However, after Lukashenka came to power, the Kurapaty topic was silenced. Incidentally, over his 25-year rule, the head of the country has never visited the place.
