MOSCOW, November 4 (RIA Novosti) - Picketers gathered in front of the Polish embassy in Moscow Friday to demand a new investigation into an execution of Polish officers by the KGB precursor in 1940, police said.
The picket, sanctioned by the authorities, gathered 30 people and took place at a time when Russia is celebrating its new National Unity Day, marking the liberation of Moscow from Polish invaders in 1612.
"The picketers demanded an open, fair, and comprehensive reconsideration of the case by an authoritative court," the police said.
The picketers set up a plywood figure of a Polish officer, with a rifle marked with swastika sticking out of him, the police said, adding that the three-hour picket had been peaceful.
In 1940, the NKVD, then the Soviet interior and security ministry, executed more than 4,000 Polish officers near Smolensk, west of Moscow. The officers had been taken captive when Soviet troops entered Poland in 1939. In 1990, the Soviet Union admitted the fact.
