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Human rights council chief praises Putin’s decision on monument to victims of repressions

Mikhail Fedotov hopes that the memorial will put an end to deliberations on the creeping rehabilitation of Stalin

MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. The monument to the victims of political repressions, due to be unveiled in Moscow on October 30, should end all disputes on the rehabilitation of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, head of the Russian Presidential Council for Human Rights and Civil Society, Mikhail Fedotov, said in an interview with TASS.

"The memorial in Moscow should become not only a national symbol honoring innocent victims but also a symbol of complete condemnation of the totalitarian regime’s crimes," Fedotov said, hoping that the memorial will also put a full stop to deliberations on the creeping rehabilitation of Stalin.

"If our country indeed had chosen this path, there would have been no memorial to the victims of political repressions. Speaking about it would be simply senseless and even dangerous," he said.

Fedotov noted the special role President Vladimir Putin had in creating the monument, reiterating that in 2015 the Russian leader ordered the Moscow government to find a particular location.

The monument will be unveiled on the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions, commemorated on October 30 since 1991 in the former Soviet republics. The statue is being created as part of the Wall of Grief project by sculptor Georgy Frangulyan. This is a massive bronze wall carving depicting human bodies, both dead and alive. The word "Remember" will be written there in different languages.

Granite compositions, symbolizing echelons and torture chambers will be part of the memorial, and will have stones from the detention facilities where the repressed had been incarcerated. The monument will be erected in downtown Moscow, at the intersection of Sakharov Avenue and the Garden Ring.