Dear Mr. President!
Today, on the occasion of his appearance before the State Duma, the Public Prosecutor of the Russian Federation V.F. Ustinov made the following proposal to introduce measures for the combating of terrorism: to capture „in return“ family members of terrorists. The second proposal made by Public Prosecutor Ustinov deserves our attention, too – the introduction of „simplified legal proceedings“ in case of acts of terrorism.
These proposals of the Public Prosecutor have a fateful historical tradition. We particularly have in mind: the Decree of the USSR Central Executive Committee dated the 8th of June 1934, which punished family members of „traitors to the fatherland“ by internal exile; the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Central Executive Committee dated the 1st of December 1934 „about methods of carrying through legal proceedings instituted in cases of the preparation and implementation of terorist acts“ (this decree was passed immediately after Kirov’s murder in Leningrad); the operative order of the People’s Commissar of the Interior, N.I. Yezhov, No. 00486 dated the 15th of August 1937 (in the vernacular it is called the „decree about family members of traitors to the fatherland“), as well as a series of other laws, decrees and official enactments from the years 1930-1940.
In conformity with the constitution the Public Prosecutor has the supreme legislative authority in the Russian Federation. You, Vladimir Vladimirovich, appear as an official disposing of the power to suggest to the Council of Federation the candidature for the post of the Public Prosecutor and also introduce the suggestion of his dismissal from office (section 83 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation).
In our imagination, Mr. President, after the Russian Public Prosecutor publicly proposed to the Duma to undertake steps towards the restoration of the Stalinist legislation, there now remain two posssibilities for you to decide.
Firstly – to immediately propose to the Council of Federation to relieve V.V. Ustinov from his office.
Secondly – not to make this proposition.
No matter which decision is going to be dropped – it will point the way to Russia’s future, at least in so far, as this future depends on you personally.
You are the one to make the choice.
Yours faithfully,
The Board of the „Memorial“ Organization