Speaking at an event commemorating victims of Communism, Mr. Reinsalu stated that the Memorial to Victims of Communism unveiled in the Maarjamäe  district of Tallinn on Thursday was the outcome of the work of a whole generation.

"The office of the register of repressed people, led by Leo Oispuu, has been working for decades to draw up the lists of victims,'' Mr. Reinsalu said, speaking at the Pilistvere memorial park in central Estonia.

''Without that work, establishing the memorial would have been impossible," he went on.

"Our next major task is to set up in Tallinn, at the site of the former Patarei prison, an international museum and centre of research of the crimes of Communism,'' Mr. Reinsalu added, stating that firm support for the initiative had come from seven other EU member states, principally former Soviet and Warsaw Pact nations.

Joint statement

Government representatives of the eight countries gathered in Tallinn on Thursday at the invitation of Urmas Reinsalu, on the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism, and adopted a joint statement to commemorate the victims of Communism and to support the museum initiative.

Representatives from the ministries of justice and of foreign affairs from Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary joined Estonia in making the statement.

Plans are reportedly in place for the museum to be located within the compound of the Patarei sea fortress, which dates from the first half of the 19th century and which served as a prison from 1920 to 2002.

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