CASE OF VASSILI KONONOV:
STRASBOURG VERSUS NUREMBERG.
Scandalous verdict of the European Commission for Human Rights, which adjudged the legality of the prosecution of former resistance member, disputes the results of the Nuremberg Judgment

12-year-long legal dispute of Vassili Kononov and the Latvian ethnocratic regime resembles Franz Kafka’s novel "The Trial¹" with its absurd piling of the sentences, further inquiries, and appeals. By the way "The Trial", written in 1925, was also born by the European culture and in great many senses it became a prophecy of the coming fascism.

Grand Chamber of the European Court for Human Rights cancelled the original verdict, returned in Strasbourg 2 years ago due to the claim of Vassili Kononov, Great Patriotic War veteran, that he put up against the Latvian authorities. Talks that the common sense finally prevailed in Europe, turned out to be pre-mature: this time 14 judges voted in favor of Latvia and just 3 of them — in favor of partisan and resistance member.

In 2008 the Court obliged Latvia to pay Kononov €30.000 as compensation and recognize the incompetence of the criminal prosecution against him. This inspired the state authorities to demand the Strasbourg Court to revise this decision. Vassili Kononov says that he is willing to fight until the end, the way he did in the 40s. He is 87 now so his time and strength for another war — against the unrighteous court this time — are running thin. This war however is on since 1998 — that’s when the veteran was arrested. He, by the way, sacrificed his youth for the liberation of his motherland (Vassili Kononov is a native citizen of Latvia).

Hopes of Kononov’s lawyers are grounded on the circumstance that Strasbourg doesn’t have all the materials of the case. Thus, the Court didn’t take the complete information into the consideration, which may become the reason to review the case, despite the fact, that, according to the law, the Grand Chamber is making its final decision now. We can’t rule out the possibility that the lawyers will manage to catch this straw. But still it’s hard to believe in their success, as long as it is clear that now everything depends on the political conjuncture. 12-year-long legal dispute of Vassili Kononov and the Latvian ethnocratic regime resembles Franz Kafka’s novel "The Trial" with its absurd piling of the sentences, further inquiries, and appeals. By the way "The Trial", written in 1925, was also born by the European culture and in great many senses it became a prophecy of the coming fascism.

Now we know almost everything about the "guilt" of anti-fascist Kononov. In 1944 in the Malie Bati village (Latgale) his detachment eliminated the group of the local policemen. Atrocious murder of twelve scouts including the 1-year-old son of the detachment commander Chugunov became the resume of their loyal service to the Germans — scouts have stopped at this village to have a short break. Shed where the partisans slept was set on fire and everyone who was inside burnt to death. Radio operator and a nurse with a baby tried to break away from shut shed, but they were shot with a burst of the machine-gun.

Traitors were awarded for carrying out of the partisan extermination special operation by the German policemen. Besides that, fascists provided the village dwellers with the weapon — so to say, for their self-defense. Latvian part and so does the ECHR now, believe Kononov to commit a "war crime", having killed the collaborationists. Why? Because it turns out that no documents proving involvement of the latter ones in the partisans’ death have ever been found. As though policemen had no better things to do rather than making the archives, scrupulously recording their evil deeds there!

High-ranking European "human rights activists" also weren’t convinced by the arguments, that the operation headed by Kononov was conducted against those people, who were seriously suspected of collaborating with the Nazi occupants (by the way, these facts were reflected in the Chamber’s verdict in 2008). Partisans have searched their houses and only when rifles and grenades given by the Germans were discovered — material evidence of their collaboration — they were executed. At the same time, the rest of the village was left intact, which contradicts the theory of the "war crime".

Representatives of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs have already stated that after such scandalous attack of the European justice our country is ready to review the relations both with the ECHR and the Council of Europe. Reasoning of the foreign policy body is quite comprehensible: decision of the Court for the Human Rights belongs to the political, rather than the legal sphere. But that’s not the kind of thing that people who really need their rights to be protected expect from Strasbourg. Thus, the European judges have put their very competence up in the air.

They’ve made yet another serious mistake: now they are quite logically blamed for revision of the Nuremberg Judgment revision. About a week ago the whole world celebrated the 65th anniversary of the great Victory. Moscow became the centre of the celebrations — not only Russian but also the Allied troops marched over it. This happened for the first time and everyone started talking of the Western strive towards Russia. And yet here’s one of the few alive heroes — one of those, whom several generations owe their lives — and he is accused of the genocide at the supreme international level. And it is the authorities of Latvia — where the fascist collaborationists are officially honored as the freedom fighters — that turn out to be right in this situation.

Having picked up the side of Latvian leadership, Strasbourg Court has made a dangerous example to everyone — its consequences are yet to be estimated. While during the decades after the Second World War in were the Nazis who were prosecuted all over the world, now the time to even the score and put those who fought against the fascism into prisons has come. Previously, this dirty business was the lot of certain states, which authorities were under the influence of nationalistic complexes and strived to deny everything — doesn’t matter positive or negative — that was connected to the Soviet past. Now it turns out that it is the educated Europe that fights against veterans.

By Maxim Nemov

¹ Der Prozeß