MOSCOW. May 19 (Interfax) - Russia plans to finish transferring documents from the Katyn massacre case, the execution of Polish prisoners of war by the Soviet secret police NKVD, to Poland in the near future, Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said.
"Efforts to provide the Polish side with the materials of the criminal case opened following the discovery of mass graves containing the remains of Polish servicemen - the so-called Katyn case - are nearing their conclusion," Chaika said at a meeting with Polish Prosecutor General Andrzej Seremet in Moscow on Thursday.
Poland has already received 148 volumes with copies of Katyn case documents, he said.
The term "Katyn crime" stands for the execution in April-May 1940 of about 22,000 Polish nationals held in former Soviet NKVD (Interior Ministry) prisons. For decades, the Soviet Union denied NKVD's involvement in Katyn executions.
Later, Russia's Chief Military Prosecutor's Office investigated the Katyn case but closed it in 2004. The resolution on the case closure was classified.
Rights defenders are pushing for the Katyn victims to be rehabilitated and recognized as victims of political repressions.
Memorial was among the first nongovernmental organizations in Russia to pioneer research on Stalinist repressions it has been pursuing for two decades.