Joseph Stalin and his secret police henchmen to face charges over Gulag labour camps more than 60 years after Soviet tyrant’s death
More than 200,000 people were deported amid accusations of collaboration with the Nazi during WWII
UKRAINE is bringing charges against Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his secret police chief for the victims of the 1944 Deportation of the Crimean Tatars.
The probe, which began in 2015, is investigating what happened more than 70 years ago, when the Soviet Union deported thousands of people from Crimea to terrible work camps in Siberia and Central Asia.
Ukraine’s investigators carried out 53 probes across 52 universities and 67 state libraries, documenting evidence against Stalin and Beria, reports.
More than 200,000 people were deported mainly to the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic at the order of Joseph Stalin on accusations of collaboration with the Nazi during WWII.
The deportation started on May 18, 1944, first trains with the victims setting off from the Siren railway station in the city of Bakhchysaray.
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The Ukrainian government estimates at least 230,000 people were forcibly removed, most of them Tatar.
Thousands perished in inhumane conditions in the notorious gulag system.
The move comes amid tensions resulting from Russia annexing the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in 2014.
But in recent years Stalin has been growing in popularity among Russians with majority approving of his regime.
According to, officials have rejected the charges.
It reports comments by Zaur Smirnov, the chief of the State Committee of the Republic of Crimea.
He said: "All these decisions don’t entail any practical effects for the Crimean Tatars and only add a painful imprint and a mockery over their tragedy."
Last week memorial events were held in Ukraine to mark the 1944 Deportation of the Crimean Tatars.
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