Stalin, Molotov and Voroshilov were complained to the Investigative Committee in connection with the deportations of peoples

A resident of Kabardino-Balkaria, Oleg Kelemetov, asked the Investigative Committee to check the decisions of the USSR State Defense Committee on mass deportations based on nationality. The applicant points out that the normative acts of the State Committee on the eviction of Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Karachais, Balkars and Crimean Tatars violated the Soviet Constitution and the Criminal Code in force at that time. He hopes that the Investigative Committee will establish the fact of the crime and the involvement of specific individuals from the leadership of the USSR: Joseph Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, Kliment Voroshilov, Georgy Malenkov, Lavrenty Beria, Nikolai Voznesensky and Lazar Kaganovich. Lawyers interviewed by Kommersant doubt that Mr. Kelemetov will get at least a pre-investigation check from the Investigative Committee.

A resident of Nalchik, Oleg Kelemetov, sent an application to the RF Investigative Committee last Saturday. In the spring of 1944, his father was deported to Kazakhstan during the forced eviction of Balkars from the territory of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In a conversation with a Kommersant correspondent, Mr. Kelemetov clarified that he is contacting the department not as the son of a repressed person, but as a citizen who wants to establish those responsible for the illegal actions of the Soviet government.

Mr. Kelemetov states that the basis for the forced eviction was the “national and ethnic identity of the repressed citizens, regardless of gender, age and health status”: “The deportation was repressive, indiscriminate in nature, with the use of physical violence, a threat to life and health, and mass episodes of death among the deportees. The violent actions of government officials were widespread and systemic, which indicates signs of genocide.”

Oleg Kelemetov believes that the deportations were carried out on the basis of decrees of the State Defense Committee of the USSR – this structure included Joseph Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, Kliment Voroshilov, Georgy Malenkov, Lavrenty Beria, Nikolai Voznesensky and Lazar Kaganovich. The applicant is sure that the decisions on evictions contradicted Art. 127 of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1937, which “ensures equal rights for citizens regardless of their race and nationality.” “By adopting these resolutions, the members of the State Defense Committee grossly violated this constitutional principle, which, in accordance with Art. 110 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR is defined as abuse of power,” the applicant believes. In this regard, he asks the Investigative Committee to establish whether members of the State Committee neglected the provisions of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1937 and whether their actions showed signs of “excesses of power that resulted in grave consequences involving violence, torture, and offending the personal dignity of citizens.”

Mr. Kelemetov expects a pre-investigation check to be carried out. “There are no obstacles in the current legislation to establish the fact of a crime and the list of persons responsible for it,” he argues. “It is clear that then the investigation can terminate the criminal case – both due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, and in connection with death the persons mentioned. And the trial may continue if the relatives of those considered involved in this crime do not agree with the conclusions of the investigation. This practice exists.”

Lawyers and human rights activists representing the interests of victims of political repression in the USSR told Kommersant that this is the first attempt known to them to establish the personal responsibility of Joseph Stalin and other senior party leaders for illegal deportations. However, lawyer Marina Agaltsova believes that the applicant’s prospects for achieving justice are minimal. She believes that after a pre-investigation check, the Investigative Committee will refuse to initiate a criminal case – after all, the persons mentioned in the statement by Mr. Kelemetov are dead, and the statute of limitations under Art. 110 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR passed “a long time ago.” At the same time, the Investigative Committee can do without establishing the fact of the crime and the responsible persons – as the lawyer explained, in the results of the inspection it is enough for the agency to indicate a description of the application and the grounds for refusing to initiate a criminal case.

Ms. Agaltsova believes that the likelihood of initiating a criminal case would have been higher if the applicant had approached the department as a relative of the deportee and asked to be held accountable for genocide: there is no statute of limitations for this category of crimes. In addition, the statement needs to “build a chain of responsibility” in detail, the lawyer notes: “It is necessary to prove that there was not just a mass death of people, old people and children. It is necessary to prove that this is the responsibility of those people, the result of their orders, and not, for example, the actions of local authorities.”

“It is difficult to evaluate the content of the document from a legal point of view, since it does not formally meet legal criteria. In this form, it does not have any criminal procedural prospects, and no formal verification will be carried out on it,” says Konstantin Dobrynin, senior partner of the Pen & Paper Bar Association. “If we consider this statement as some kind of attempt at a socio-political public assessment of a very dark historical period of our homeland, then it is rather positive. Although it only touches on one of many historical aspects, and aspects that have already been assessed legislatively, with positive rehabilitation measures taken.”

A member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, lawyer Dmitry Agranovsky, told Kommersant that the Communist Party is “completely indifferent” to such actions. “Every citizen has the right to contact the competent authorities with any complaints, even the most ridiculous ones. In my opinion, there will be no significant movement on this complaint, because it will be followed by a counter movement (from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.— “Kommersant”). And this is not timely for anyone now. If we now begin to fully investigate the circumstances of the deportations, this will in no way contribute to social peace,” explained Mr. Agranovsky.

Oleg Kelemetov himself stated that if the answer is negative, the Investigative Committee intends to appeal to the court and the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Emilia Gabdullina, Ilona Kalinich