BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

05/11/2007

Sparring Communist, Anticommunist Forums Held In Minsk

On November 3-5, Minsk is hosting an international communist forum on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia, Belapan reported. At the government-supported forum, Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, called on Russia's leadership to stop "blackmailing" Minsk and fulfill its obligations regarding the formation of a union state with Belarus. On the same dates, the opposition Belarusian Popular Front (BNF) held its own forum in Minsk to condemn the communist regime that ruled in Soviet Belarus. Participants demanded that the Belarusian government recognize that the communist regime's policy in Belarus between 1919 and 1956 amounted to genocide against Belarusians, and appealed to the Supreme Court of Belarus to ban all political parties and organizations that are based on what they called "criminal communist ideology." AM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/11/3-cee/cee-051107.asp