Erklärung der FIR zur Entscheidung des Europäischen Gerichtshoffür Menschenrechte im Fall Wassilij Kononow

17. Mai 2010

Two years ago the International Federation of Resistance-fighters (FIR) – Association of Anti-fascists, the umbrella federation of organizations of former resistance fighters, partisans, members of the anti-Hitler coalition, victims of the Nazi regime and anti-fascists of today’s generations from more than twenty countries of Europe and Israel has been satisfied by the judgement of the European Court of Justice in the case of the Latvian partisan Wassili Kononow. His condemnation because of war crimes – done by a Riga court 2004 – was rejected. The European Court rejected 2008 all attempts to criminalize the liberation struggle of Latvian partisans beside of the Soviet army.

Two years later, in the time when the world commemorate the 65th anniversary of „the Day of victory“ the European High Court of Human Rights cancelled his own decision and confirmed by the end the Latvian judgement against antifascist fighters: The Latvian court has the right to denounce partisans as „war criminals“.

The High Court places itself with this decision beside of historical revisionism, which in Latvia especially tries to rehabilitate and glorify the SS-volunteers as „fighters for the freedom of Latvia“. In the last years on March 18 former SS-volunteers and neo-fascists are marching in Latvian capital Riga – under the protection of police.

We declare our solidarity with Wassili Kononow. Nobody can and will accept such a decision on European level. Now we ask the Members of the European Parliament to give clear political signals to all European countries that the liberation struggle against the fascist barbarism of the peoples may not be denied and criminalized. The Parliament should underline that the anti-fascist resistance was a basis for the development of a peaceful Europe until today.

Berlin, 18 May 2010

Michel Vanderborght, President

Dr. Ulrich Schneider, General Secretary