Nalchik: public verdict passed to communist secretary at rally in memory of repression victims

The public tribunal of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) has found Betal Kalmykov, the first secretary of the VKP(b) local committee in the 1930s, guilty of genocide. The monument to Kalmykov should be demolished, said Marx Shakhmurzov, the head of the Association of Victims of Political Repressions.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in 2015 the above Association demanded to demolish the monument to Kalmykov in Nalchik. Out of the 17,000 people, repressed in the KBR, many were persecuted by Kalmykov's personal initiative, Ismail Sabanchiev, the head of the Board of Elders of the Balkar people, has stated.

Marx Shakhmurzov has added that the first in the modern history of Russia public tribunal took place in the KBR over Kalmykov.

"It has given a legal assessment of the actions of the communist regime and personally Betal Kalmykov. Repressions against the KBR population in the 1920s and 1940s have been recognized as genocide," Mr Shakhmurzov has added.

Kalmykov is accused of liquidating "tens of thousands best people of the republic. He forced people to say 'There's no Allah!' while stepping on the Koran," Marx Shakhmurzov has noted.

Nadezhda Kulchaeva-Kodjokova, the head of the Nalchik public organization of victims of political repressions, has condemned the tribunal. According to her version, "the dead should not be judged." The tribunal can split the people of the KBR, she believes.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.