Georgia: Independence Day to be celebrated and museum of Soviet occupation to be opened

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On May 26, Independence Day has been celebrated in Georgia. Georgian independence was proclaimed on Aril 9, 1991 on the basis of 31 March 1990 nation-wide referendum, during which nearly whole country’s population voted for leaving the USSR. Later, restoration of state independence was timed to May 26 – the day, when Independence Act of first Democratic Republic Georgia was passed in 1918. As a REGNUM correspondent reports, a military parade is to be the main event; it is supposed to become the biggest military parade in latest country’s history.

Museum of Soviet Occupation, covering period of 1921-1991, is to open in the framework of Independence Day’s celebration. The museum exhibition comprises archive documents, photo and video materials about Soviet period’s repressions, protocols of Georgian dissidents’ examinations, orders to shoot, personal files of repressed persons, Soviet symbols. Special monitors are installed at the exhibition hall to view appropriate photo and video materials. Invited historians and writers will hold lectures on Georgian latest history there. It is worth stressing that it is third such museum in the post-Soviet space – earlier analogous museums opened in Vilnius and Riga.

A sum, equal to about $250,000, was granted form presidential fund to hold various events in the framework of celebration of Georgia’s State Independence Restoration Day: festive receptions, cultural and sport measures, etc.