the National Assembly qualifies as genocide the Holodomor, this murderous famine of the 1930s

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomes decision “important”. The National Assembly recognized, Tuesday, March 28, as a genocide the Holodomor. This famine caused in the early 1930s in Ukraine by the Soviet authorities killed several million people. In a resolution adopted almost unanimously (168 votes against 2), the deputies called on the government to do the same, to respond to Kiev’s strong expectations about this painful memory, revived by the Russian invasion of country.

>> War in Ukraine: how the memory of the Holodomor, this famine caused by Stalin, has shaped Ukrainian identity.

The Holodomor (extermination by starvation), “It’s the story of organized barbarism” And “the use of starvation as a political weapon”, pleaded its first signatory, the deputy Renaissance Anne Genetet. She punctuated her speech with a “Long live free Ukraine”, in the presence of the Ukrainian Ambassador to France. The text had been co-signed by members of seven of the ten political groups in the Assembly, with the exception of the groups La France insoumise (LFI), Communist and National Rally (RN).

The Insoumis did not take part in the vote, believing that there were doubts about the genocidal nature of these events under international law. “No one can deny the reality of the crime” but “was it a question of exterminating the Ukrainian people as such?”, asked LFI MP Bastien Lachaud. The Communists are the only ones to have voted against, considering that parliamentarians were not legitimate to replace historians and judges. “We refuse to contribute to the politicization of issues of memory and history”explained MP Jean-Paul Lecoq.