Vilnius (AFP)
Lithuania on Thursday called on Amazon to stop selling online products hit by the Soviet symbol of the sickle and hammer, which, according to Vilnius, offend the victims of communist totalitarianism.
The 1990 Lithuanian father of independence, Vytautas Landsbergis, published an open letter to Jeff Bezos, founder of the e-commerce giant, on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. had led to the occupation of the Baltic countries.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said his diplomats also asked Amazon to stop selling the products targeted by Landsbergis.
"It's hurtful, Stalinist crimes are not well understood, it's a matter of historical justice," the head of diplomacy told AFP.
"Amazon distributes some consumer goods stamped with symbols of communist tyranny, the USSR, collaborator of the Nazis in war crimes and genocide", states in his open letter Mr. Landsbergis, 86 years.
The symbol appears on t-shirts, badges and other items found in Amazon's catalog.
The graphic representation of the sickle and hammer, a symbol of Soviet communism, is illegal in Lithuania, a country of 2.8 million people that joined the EU and NATO in 2004.
"The day of August 23, known as the beginning of the murderous Second World War, because of the criminal pact (signed) between Stalin and Hitler in 1939, 80 years ago, would be the most appropriate time to put an end to" to its use, adds Landsbergis.
The Soviets invaded the Baltic States in 1940 under the Ribbentrop-Molotov Agreement.
© 2019 AFP