Communist symbols banned in Moldova
Communist symbols are banned in Moldova. The Parliament voted in today’s session a law which forbids the symbols of the totalitarian communist regimes condemning the crimes with which they are associated.
“The totalitarian communist regime of the MSSR which committed crimes against humanity is condemned. It is forbidden the use of communist symbols for political and propagandist purposes and the promotion of the totalitarian ideologies,” the recently voted bill shows.
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR) was the name given by the Soviet Union to a part of Bessarabia from 1940 until the dissolution of the USSR which emerged with the independence in 1991 of the Republic of Moldova.
The Communist symbols are the hammer and sickle.
The new law was affirmed by a vote of 53 out of 101 deputies. The Communist and Socialist lawmakers voted against the bill. The Communist Party said they are going to appeal the decision at the Constitutional Court.
“We are obligatorily going to appeal the Parliament’s decision at the Constitutional Court,” the head of the Communist Party
Vladimir Voronin said. He believes that the newly issued bill was initiated by an outside political force. “I am angry. It has been premeditated. It is their initiative,” the communist leader said, referring to the ruling coalition – the Alliance for European Integration (AEI) - where the initiative came from.
After a majority of lawmakers voted for this law, the Communist deputies left the Parliament as a protest.
Head of Liberal Party Mihai Ghimpu regrets that the Communism wasn’t condemned earlier at an International Court.
“It is a big mistake for Europe not to condemn the Communists in the same way the Nazis were in Nuremburg Trial. In the previous century not only the Moldovans suffered, but also Ukrainians, Russians and all who lived here. The sickle and hammer are the symbols for which innocent people were deported to Siberia and killed,” the Liberal deputy said.
The sickle and hammer continue to be the symbols which represent the Communist Party of Moldova. Referring to the new law, the party will have to change their logo, otherwise they will not be allowed to participate in any election.
Historian Octavian Ticu believes that banning the Communist symbols is a historic duty. According to him, Moldova cannot speak about any European integration without condemning the atrocities of the Communist regime.
“It is an imperative of moral and historic need. This action was taken by Romania before joining the European Union. It marked giving up the Communist past and being willing to join a European space free of such scars of the past,” Octavian Ticu told RFE/RL in an interview.
The law also states that all totalitarian ideologies are prohibited in Moldova.
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