A reader has sent me this trenchant message about the state of affairs in Slovenia concerning justice for the victims of communist atrocities:

Your article "Regret is not enough in Slovenian tragedy" is spot on as is your analysis of the political situation in the Central European country of Slovenia where communist politicians are masquerading as so called lovers of freedom and democracy.
 
If these politicians really believed in freedom and democracy they would arrest all those responsible for committing these atrocities against Slovenians and punish them. They would also introduce lustration laws like the Czech Rep and Poland to remove all communists from key institutions…
 
In fact there are many similarities between what happened at Katyn to the Polish people in 1940 and what happened to Slovenians in the Central European country of Slovenia in 1945 – in both cases the massacres were carried out by communists, they both happened in the 1940’s, they were both covered up by the communist authorities and they were both only made public AFTER communism collapsed in Central Europe. 
 
Also if the British Prime Minister David Cameron really believes in democracy, freedom and human rights then he needs to make a full and frank PUBLIC apology to the Slovenian victims of the massacres and their families. Its time the British Government shows leadership, stands up and takes responsibility for what happened. Remaining silent simply indicates tacit approval and support for murderous totalitarianism which is totally unacceptable.

The European Parliament must pass a Resolution condemning the Slovenian government for supporting and promoting Totalitarianism and for violating EU Resolution 1096. It MUST also impose the following tough conditions on the Slovenian government:

  • All monuments and symbols of communism and communist leaders including names and statutes of Dictator Tito and Stalin must be demolished throughout Slovenia.
  • All Slovenians murdered by Dictator Tito’s regime must be identified and reburied in PROPER CIVILISED graves with full respect and military honours like that accorded to heroes.
  • All communists who committed massacres against Slovenians must be arrested, put on trial and punished. Introduce a Lustration Law into Slovenia to remove all communists from key positions.
  • Demand Serbia hand over ALL archived documents it still holds in Belgrade about the former communist totalitarian regime and about the Massacre of Slovenians. Poland made a similar request to Russia over records held in Moscow about the Katyn Massacre.
  • Strip Tomaz Ertl (the former head of the communist secret Police) of his national award.

 If the communist Slovenian government refuses to act, then all EU and US assistance to this government should be suspended until such time as all the aforementioned conditions are met and instead the money transferred into a special "Slovenian victims of communism" trust fund that can be used to build a permanent memorial to all the Slovenian victims of Tito’s regime in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana. 
 
Surely the Slovenian victims and their families are more deserving of assistance than a government that supports dictators, murderers, criminals and human rights abusers.
 
History has shown that failure to take strong decisive action early, results in paying a high price in the future.