President Lennart Meri today participated on the invitation of Carl Bildt, leader of the Swedish Moderate Party, on the Seminar on the Communist Crimes organised by the Jarl Hjalmarsson Foundation in Riksdag in Stockholm. The seminar was conducted by Carl Bildt and Margaretha af Ugglas, the former Foreign Minister of Sweden. On the seminar, a presentation of the Swedish translation of the “Black Book of Communism” was made by Stéphane Courtois, the composer and one of the authors of the book. Other major presentations were made by President Lennart Meri and the writer Andres Küng.

In his paper, President Meri drew attention to the similarity of the Nazi and Soviet regimes. He drew a parallel between the crimes against humanity committed by the Nazi and Soviet regimes and Yugoslavia’s current ethnic purge in Kosovo. President Meri also underlined the importance of the publication of the “Black Book of Communism”; he also said that the translation of the book into Estonian is under way and added that the book would remain open as long as there are totalitarian regimes in the world.

President Meri will return to Tallinn tonight.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, April 13, 1999

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