Fifteen years ago pro-democracy activists in Russia tore down a statue in front of the Moscow KGB Headquarters. The statue was a monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Cheka, the predecessor agency of the KGB. Back in 2002 the mayor of Moscow suggested that the statue be restored, which caused an uproar, and even the former KGB official, and President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, was opposed to the restoration.

Felix Dzerzhinsky, known as Iron Felix, was responsible for mass arrests, brutality and thousands of executions. Once, when discussing the type of person he was looking for to work for the Cheka, Dzerzhinsky stated, “Just round up all the most resolute people you can, who understand that there is nothing more effective than a bullet in the head to shut people up. Experience has shown that you only need a small number of people like that to turn a whole situation around,”

So, someone this infamous that even President Putin wants to distance himself from, would not be glorified by any government, right? Not so fast, on May 26, 2006, a new monument, the exact replica of the statue torn down in Moscow in 1991, was unveiled in Minsk, Belarus. The statue now holds a place in the Military Academy of Belarus. Of course, the head of the Belarus KGB (Lukashenko kept the name KGB for his security service) attended the unveiling of the statue. The Belarusian Helsinki Committee rights group condemned the new statue and called it “an insult to the memory of the millions of victims of the repressive machine founded by Iron Felix.” The head of the Belarusian border guard service, Gen. Alexander Pavlosvsky, defended the decision to erect the statue, and said, “Dzerzhinsky was not an odious figure, he is someone who merits respect.”

Need I say more?