The words were strong and the emotions were high as an international congress in Vilnius claimed that communists killed 100 million people throughout the world and appealed to the United Nations and all democratic countries to create a special tribunal fo
Published:
25 June 2000 y., Sunday
Witnesses from Lithuania, Bulgaria, Hungary and other Central European countries spoke about their personal suffering from communist repression. Lithu-anian lawyer Vytautas Zabiela said that the process would have only moral, not legal consequences. Lech Walesa, the former
president of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, attended the congress held June 12-14. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting against the communist regime when he was the leader of the Polish independent Solidarity trade unions.
"More people were killed in peace time than during two world wars in this part of the world," Walesa said about communist terror.
The congress participants, victims of communist repression, politicians, political scientists and lawyers from 23 countries, said that Vilnius is a symbolic place for such an anti-communist forum. Lithuania lost one-third of its population during Soviet occupation because of killings,
deportations and forced emigration, said Povilas Jakucionis, chairman of the Lithuanian Political Prisoners and De-portees Union. This union and three similar Lithuanian organizations of victims of communism organized the congress.
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