Moldova's news

Marian Lupu explains that ban on communist symbols applies to the sickle and the hammer only

16 july 2012, 17:16 print out copy link The link has been copied to the Clipboard

According to the Law, passed by the Moldovan Parliament on July 12, the ban on using communist symbols applies to only two such symbols – to the Sickle and the Hammer, says the Parliament Speaker, leader of the Democratic Party Marian Lupu.

Last Friday night, he took part in an informal press club “Social Resonance” meeting, where he stressed that the ban applies only to these two elements used for political goals.

“What concerns medals, orders, badges etc., which are the personal property of citizens, who are not engaged in political propaganda or political struggle, these items do not fall under the Law’s force”, stressed Marian Lupu.

Asked why the condemnation of the Soviet communist regime crimes does not apply to people who committed those crimes, Lupu replied that the initial draft of the Law envisaged that.

“The problem is, this question was formulated in the law text not quite clearly. We did not want this provision to hit the people who worked for the Soviet state but had nothing in common in the regime’s crimes of the 1930s-1950s, so we crossed this article from the bill”, said Lupu.

He does not believe that the condemnation of the crimes committed by the Stalinist communist regime will tell negatively on Moldova’s relations with Russia because Moscow has also condemned the regime’s crimes.

In his words, the deputies had a possibility to consider an alternative bill, too, which was submitted by the Communist opposition half a year ago.

“That bill has an analogous purport, but pertains to condemning Nazism and fascism and to a ban on using the symbols of the Nazi totalitarian regime. Last Thursday, I requested twice the bill authors to put the document on the plenary agenda so as to avoid accusations that one totalitarian regime is subjected to condemnation, while the other one, the Nazi and fascist – is not. However, our Communists refused to, saying that in such case the crimes by Nazism will be put on same footing with the Stalinist regime’s crimes. To my mind, however, there is no difference whatever between the two regimes, when under one of them millions of people were slaughtered in Nazi concentration camps and under the other regime – in Stalin’s labor camps”, said Marian Lupu.