It never ends

TALLINN- The battle of the monuments continues in Estonia as uber nationalist Yuri Lijm used a crane and removed a Soviet cadet monument and a statue of Hans Poogelmann, who founded Estonia's Communist Party. The statues were removed from AudentesUniversity.

Lijm, age 66, was quoted by Novosti News as saying "I came here to do this because it is the responsibility of a citizen of Estonia. If the authorities are so helpless, I have to do this myself. It is our holy duty.

Lijm also gained international notoriety last year after threatening to blow up the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn's city center before its relocation.

He went on to say "Estonia still has too many these socialist monuments. I will definitely not stop until I clean Estonia of them. A period of cleaning out the trash has been declared in Estonia. I am cleaning out the red trash."

Hello Estonia reported that yet another wave of indignation in Moscow has been recently caused by a trial of Arnold Meri, the last Hero of the Soviet Union in Estonia. Elderly Meri is charged with genocide over deportations to Siberia in 1949. The trial began on May 20. Meri, 88, pleaded non-guilty, but if convicted, he may be sentenced to life.

On Friday the Russian State Duma is likely to ask the OSCE and the Council of Europe to denounce the trial.

"Lawmakers will draw the attention of European parliamentarians to the attempts of Estonian authorities to revise the results of the Second World War and the Nuremberg tribunal," said State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov.

Head of the Duma veterans committee Nikolai Kovalev said "the trial of Meri in Estonia is a logical continuation of the official policy of the BalticRepublic to eliminate at the state level the very memory of the lessons of the Second World War. I believe time has come to oppose such a policy. Not only Russia should occupy a tough stance, but veteran organizations of the whole world should condemn Estonia."