Vassili Kononov

Vassili Makarovich Kononov [ECtHR usage.] or Vasiliy Makarovich Kononov ( _ru. Василий Макарович Кононов, _lv. Vasilijs Kononovs; b. January 1, 1923 in Strauja, Mērdzene municipality, Latgale, Latvia) was a Soviet partisan during World War II.

Mazie Bati

On 29 February 1944, Latvian villagers from Mazie Bati (Malye Baty) in Latgale took overnight 12 men from the Soviet reconnaissance-sabotage group led by Major Chugunov.clarifyme Some local members of the "Schutzmannschaften" (a militarized Latvian auxiliary police formation created by the Nazis) assured the partisans that no German forces were stationed in the area. At that time, one of the local villagers reported in the German garrison that was located in 5 km from Mazie Bati.clarifyme The next day, at six in the morning, the Germans accompanied by the villagers engaged the battle with the partisans. All 12 partisans, including Major Chugunov's wife Antonina and her 7-month-old son, were killed. [ [http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=54337&cid=28&p=19.12.2007 Interview with Kononov's lawyer, Mikhail Ioffe.] ru icon] [ [http://www.newsru.com/world/21dec2007/kononov.html Европейский суд принял жалобу латвийского партизана Василия Кононова.] "News.ru", 2007-12-21. ru icon]

On 27 May1944, a detachment of the First Latvian Partisan Battalion led by Kononov staged a "counter operation" against the village of Mazie Bati. In this operation, 9 civilians allegedly were identified as German auxiliaries (In Soviet language: Nazi collaborators) responsible for the prior incident, and murdered by Kononov's men upon the ad-hoc Military Tribunal verdict. One of the murdered villagers was a pregnant woman at her ninth month of pregnancy, who was caught fleeing and was murdered by throwing her into the burning building. [G. Swain (2004), "Between Stalin and Hitler: Race War and Class War on the Dvina, 1940-46", London & New York: RoutledgeCruzon, ISBN 0415331935, pp. 140, 247-8. ] [ [http://www.echr.ru/news/msg.asp?id_msg=1279 Последний бой ветерана Кононова.] O.Perov. "Vechernyaya Moskva". 2008-01-11. ru icon]

Accusations of war crimes

According to the present-day Latvian authorities, these were peaceful citizens, and 85-year-old Kononov was subsequently tried and sentenced in a Latvian court for war crimes. Kononov denies the accusations and states that those killed were armed Nazi collaborators, and therefore legitimate wartime targets for the Soviet resistance movement.

Kononov's former superior officer, academician Vilis Samsons, has questioned some of the First Latvian Partisan Battalion's wartime reports upon which the accusations against Kononov are based, as he himself knew that the description of the Mazie Bati operation was rife with factual errors and imprecisions. [V. Samsons to H. Strods 2005-07-20, in H. Strods (2007), "PSRS kaujinieki Latvijā (1941-1945)", v. 2, Riga, ISBN 9984643808, p. 355 lv icon]

Kononov's lawyer, Mikhail Ioffe, claims that on 19 June 2008 the European Court of Human Rights overturned the Latvian court ruling. Kononov is seeking the compensation of 5,000,000 euro for 620 days his spent in a Latvian prison. [cite web
title = Russian WW2 Veteran Wins a Case Against Latvia
publisher = Russia - InfoCentre
date = 2008-06-26
url = http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/6606/
accessdate = 2008-07-24] [cite web
title = ru icon Латвия расстанется с миллионами евро
publisher = Moskovskiy Komsomolets
date = 2008-06-27
url = http://mk.ru/blogs/MK/2008/06/27/society/359665/20/
accessdate = 2008-07-24] According to Ioffe, a press statement from the ECHR on the Kononov judgement was to be released on 24 July 2008. [cite web
title = lv icon Kononova advokāts: bijušais partizāns Eiropas Cilvēktiesību tiesā uzvarējis Latviju
publisher = nra.lv
date = 2008-06-26
url = http://www.nra.lv/zinas/3231-kononova-advokats-bijusais-partizans-eiropas-cilvektiesibu-tiesa-uzvarejis-latviju.htm
accessdate=2008-07-24]

A press release, published by the ECHR on July 24, 2008, revealed the Court's decision, establishing, by four votes to three, that the Kononov's case presented a violation of Article 7 (no punishment without law) of the European Convention on Human Rights. [cite press release
title = Press release issued by the Registrar: CHAMBER JUDGMENT KONONOV v. LATVIA
publisher = European Court of Human Rights
date = 2008-07-24
url = http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?item=1&portal=hbkm&action=html&highlight=&sessionid=11987234&skin=hudoc-pr-fr
accessdate = 2008-07-24] Kononov was awarded 30,000 euros in respect of non-pecuniary damage.

Awards

In recognition of his wartime service, the Soviet Union awarded Kononov various honours, including:
* the Order of Lenin;
* the Order of the Patriotic War, first class;
* the Order of the Red Banner of Labour.

ee also

*Occupation of Baltic states
*European Court of Human Rights cases on Occupation of Baltic States

References

External links

* [http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=823541&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649 ECHR press release on the first hearing in the Kononov case]
* [http://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/news/press-releases/2008/July/24-1/ "European Court of Human Rights delivers judgment in Kononov v. Latvia case"] Press release by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, July 25, 2008
* [http://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/news/press-releases/2008/July/24-1/facts/ "Facts in the case "Kononovs v. Latvia""] Press release by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, July 25, 2008
* [http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/20944/ "Latvian war crime case overturned on technicality"] Article by "The Baltic Times" transnational Baltic states newspaper, July 25, 2008
* [http://grani.ru/Politics/World/Europe/m.139339.html "Страсбург против Нюрнберга" ("Strasbourg against Nuremberg")] Article by grani.ru (in Russian), Russia, July 2008.
* [http://www.kp.belkp.by/2007/09/28/doc199433 "Партизаны убивали мирных жителей?" ("Partisans were killing peaceful civilians?")] Article by "Комсомольская правда - Белоруссия" (in Russian), Belarus, September 28, 2007
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2000/mar/13/features11.g23 Where Nazis are heroes.] "The Guardian", 2000-03-13.