Hungary supports Tallinn declaration on totalitarian regimes, says state secy

Tallinn (MTI) – Hungary supports the Tallinn declaration, which calls for establishing an institution to investigate and prosecute crimes committed by the Communist regimes, the Hungarian state secretary of justice said on Sunday.

Robert Repassy took part in a conference marking the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism and attended by representatives of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and Portugal.

Signatories to the document expressed support for standing up together against totalitarian regimes, irrespective of the ideological basis they rest on or the form they take, Repassy told MTI over the phone.

They declared that the victims of totalitarian crimes have the right to justice, noting that the practice of investigating and prosecuting the crimes committed by the Communist regimes has been insufficient and inconsistent in certain countries, he said.

The participants also declared that the competence of the existing supranational fails to include the investigation of past crimes committed by Communist regimes and punishing their perpetrators.

“The signatories find it necessary to investigate the possibility of setting up an international institution specialising in investigating the crimes of totalitarian regimes including Communism, similarly to the one investigating Nazi crimes and punishing perpetrators,” Repassy said.

Signatories call for the governments of all European countries to provide both moral and material support for the investigation of the history of totalitarian regimes preventing this way manipulation of historical facts and promoting the presentation of results of such investigations.

Repassy said the Tallinn declaration has created “a historic chance” for exposing Communist era crimes as well and calling perpetrators to account.

Photo: http://2010-2014.kormany.hu

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters