The Murmansk Regional Court has scheduled a hearing on the case of recognizing the crimes of the Nazis and their accomplices during the Great Patriotic War in the occupied border settlements of the region as genocide.
The first hearing is scheduled for February 24. In the card, the case is classified as «Civil cases — first instance», «Special proceedings, cases to establish facts of legal significance». The name of the judge has not yet been indicated. The claim was filed with the Murmansk Regional Court by the regional prosecutor on behalf of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation.
When preparing the application, the supervisory authority worked together with government agencies, law enforcement agencies, scientific institutions and educational organizations, as well as with regional public movements and search groups.
The application states that the total number of victims of the occupiers exceeds 15 thousand people. The amount of damage caused to the region, translated at the current ruble exchange rate, is 1.3 trillion rubles.
Archival documents and materials on the destruction of the region’s civilian population by the occupiers during the Great Patriotic War were studied. It was established that during military operations, the territory of the Murmansk region was partially occupied, which affected settlements in the border areas (from 1941 to 1944). As a result of mass bombing of cities in the Murmansk region, more than 1.5 thousand houses were destroyed, the prosecutor’s office reports.
It is also noted that captured Red Army soldiers were kept in inhumane conditions, they were forced to perform exhausting work, which led to death from exhaustion and cold. These facts are confirmed, among other things, by archival documents, expert opinions and witness testimony.
Photo: Evgeny Khaldey/The State Archive of the Murmansk region
