The authorities of the Tomsk region of Russia dismantled the "Stone of Sorrow" monument dedicated to the victims of Stalinist repressions in the memorial park of Tomsk on the night of April 19, as well as nearby memorial plaques for repressed Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Poles, and Kalmyks, writes "Latvijas Avīze," reports LETA.
Among those removed was a memorial stone installed by Sigulda residents in the summer of 2011 and transported to Siberia, created by artist Guntis Panders, with an inscription in Latvian and Russian: "Let the stone speak and mourn for the victims of political repression — Latvians."
As the newspaper notes, the Tomsk region has been a place of exile and imprisonment for hundreds of thousands of people since the times of Tsarist Russia, especially during the years of Stalin's terror and repression. The "Stone of Sorrow" and the memorial square in Tomsk, located on the grounds of the former investigative prison of the NKVD of the USSR, were officially opened on October 25, 1992.
When landscaping work began at the former prison in 1989, human bones and signs of mass graves were discovered among the construction debris, which were likely removed during the prison's liquidation.
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