Council of Europe recognizes human rights violations during Bronze Soldier riots

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Published time: April 19, 2011 17:14
Edited time: April 19, 2011 21:46

Tallinn residents lay flowers to the Bronze Soldier in the Military Cemetery where the monument was transferred in 2007. (RIA Novosti / Aleksey Alisko)

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Conflict, Europe, Human rights, Scandal

The Council of Europe has acknowledged that Estonian authorities violated human rights while dispersing defenders of the bronze soldier monument in Tallinn in 2007.

In its report, which was published on April 19, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) recognizes there were human rights violations during the riots against the relocation of the bronze soldier, a Soviet World War II war memorial in Tallinn. During the riots, one Russian citizen was killed in clashes with police and more than 1,000 people were detained. The violations in the treatment of detainees have also been revealed.

According to the report, the police applied excessive force when using tear gas, batons and flash bombs to control the rioting in April, 2007. They also made people stand in one position for a long time, which is considered unacceptable.

In April 2007, the bronze soldier that stood on the site of the graves of several Soviet soldiers was relocated from central Tallinn to the nearby Tallinn Military Cemetery. The relocation met with a severe negative reaction from the Russian population of Estonia, for whom the memorial and mass grave was considered to be a symbol of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

Members of the public organization "Night Watch ", which was created to defend the memorial, were accused of organizing mass unrest. They were acquitted in late 2009. They later received payments amounting to $28,000 in compensation for unlawful arrest.

Comments (7)

Marzipan6 21.04.2011 23:40

Kihnu, amen to that!

My family's history is also filled with suffering that came to the country from beyond its borders. The same is true of absolutely every Estonian family -- there are no exceptions. However, not all the suffering came by war. A very large part came from the long periods of foreign occupation and oppression that followed wars. And it is precisely this that Moscow and its apologists continue to strenuously deny. The false mythology with which they cloak the Bronze Soldier and the fury they reserve for its one-time victims is part the denial.

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Kihnu 21.04.2011 18:11

Perhaps its time to melt down this contentious statute, and cast it into a bell that can be donated to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral on Toompea. There it can ring each May 9th reminding both the Estonians and Russians of the horrors of WW II.
I finally finished writing my family's history dating from 1901 to 2000. It is filled with the suffering of my Russian and Estonian blood relatives. Enough of wars.
Let the "Bronze Soldiers" bell ring each May 9th reminding both Estonians and Russians of the insanity called war.

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Larry 21.04.2011 05:53

Even in the West, the extremism of Baltic closet Nazis is becoming disturbing...CIA operatives have also admitted that the Balts have strong Nazi tendencies...Many Balts seem to think that the cold war has sanctioned their reactionary views...but they forget that inspite of the differences between Russia & the US, these two nations fought on the same side against the Nazis.. All a visitor to RT has to do is scan RT forums to see how disturbing Baltic political views can be.

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