MOSCOW. May 20 (Interfax) - Russian Commissioner for Human Rights Vladimir Lukin has proposed declassifying all of the Katyn crime files and recognizing Polish nationals executed by the Soviet secret police NKVD as victims of Stalin-era political repression in the absence of compensation claims.
"This case should be brought to an end - total openness and no material claims. In my opinion, they are certainly victims of Stalin-era repression," Lukin told Interfax on Friday.
"A general description can be found, including 'repression victims'," he said.
Russia has forwarded a large number of Katyn-linked documents to Poland in the past year, but some files remain classified, including a resolution of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office closing the investigation into the Katyn massacre.
"It is necessary to publish all of the documents available to us once and for all," Lukin said.
"I do not see any grounds not to publish these materials, which describe events that happened a long time ago and in other states. Poland has changed and the Soviet Union no longer exists," 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 the 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 repression.
Memorial was among the first nongovernmental organizations in Russia to pioneer research on Stalinist repressions, which it has been pursuing for two decades.