SAKS: “Need for international condemnation of the crimes of totalitarian communist regimes”

Euroopa Nõukogu Parlamentaarne Assamblee (ENPA) tegi eile ajalugu: esimese suure rahvusvahelise organisatsioonina mõistis ENPA hukka kommunistlike režiimide kuritööd ehk siis võrdsustas kommunistide patud natside omadega.
Oma sõnavõtuga esines hääletuse eel eilsel plenaaristungil ka Sotsiaaldemokraatliku Erakonna aseesimees Katrin Saks.

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If the Council of Europe really values the Rule of Law, Democracy and Human Rights, we should apply the same criteria to the evaluation of our recent past.

We are not talking about any distant era, about slavery period, but about the history that most of us have seen with out own eyes. And that is why we need the truth most of all. But in reality unfortunately this personal experience we lived, personal past, personal role, makes it difficult for some people to admit what really happened.

I asked the floor in order to express my support to the resolution to condemn the crimes of the totalitarian communism. And I do it despite the fact that I was myself a member of the Communist Party of Estonia. Why it happened so, it is not important now. What is important, that I am not proud of it today, at least for the reason that it was a severe hurt to the feelings of my parents who suffered from this regime.

I believe that I am myself the most severe judge here. I am convinced that the efforts I have made to terminate this regime and to build up democracy in Estonia, have retrieved the harm of my belonging to the Communist Party.

This Resolution, just as the same kind of document adopted by the Estonian Parliament in 2002, does not make me responsible for the crimes which I never committed. Any personal involvement to genocite or crimes against humanity can be judged only by court. That is why I find absurd the claims made by some people of my political group that with condemnation of totalitarian communism we condemn also people among us.

I find ridiculous the statement made by so called Russian expert in International media that the president of Estonia should be condemned together with this Resolution because of his communist past. Together with the name of Mr. Arnold Rüütel there were mentioned names of the Lithuanian PM, president of Moldova and former president of Poland in his statement. Even the president of the European Commission, Mr. Jose Barroso, was included in that list.

Today in the morning in my party group Angela Merckel, the German Chancellor, was added to this group of people. And that is total nonsense or on the contrary, purposeful effort to mislead the public in order to avoid the truth. Why I consider addoption of the Resolution of the utmost importance? Not so much because of clearing accounts of the past but keeping in mind today and tomorrow. Or else, we cannot be sure that it will never happen again.

As long as we do not dare to name a crime “crime”, there is no guarantee against, that similar crimes will be committed again. And we, dear colleagues, we have no moral right to deal with human rights today, forgetting all these millions of victims, whose very basic right - right to live - was brutally violated.

Dear colleagues from the Socialist Group, Last year the Estonian Social Democratic Party celebrated its 100 anniversary. For half of these years our party was forbidden and members of our party were among the first victims of communist regime. Now, it is crucial for modern social democracy to draw a very clear line between crimes committed and the values we treasure. This is very important for the future of our social democratic parties.

I hope, that our effort today will give the guarantee that human rights will be better protected in the future. And for me personally, it gives hope that my children and grandchildren will never experience the horror that my parents have gone through.