MOSCOW, July 27 (RAPSI) — The Pskov Regional Court is to hear a petition of the prosecutor's office seeking to recognize the massacres of civilians committed in the region by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War as genocide in August, the Joint Press Service of the Courts of General Jurisdiction of the Pskov Region informs RAPSI. 

The court session is to decide on a fact of legal significance - the recognition of newly revealed crimes committed during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 on the territory of the Pskov and Velikiye Luki (from 02.10.1957 - Pskov) regions by unidentified persons from among the Nazi criminals and traitors against the civilian population and prisoners of war as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide is scheduled for August 9, 2021 at 10 o'clock, the press service said in a statement.

Within the framework of the No Statute of Limitations project, in July - October 2020, mass graves of civilians and prisoners of war perished during the Great Patriotic War were discovered on the territory of the Pskov region. During the war, these areas were under German occupation.

During the occupation of the Pskov region by the Nazis and their accomplices, 42,537 civilian Soviet citizens were shot, 776 were hanged, 7,629 people died as a result of torture or were burned alive, 329,455 Soviet prisoners of war were exterminated, the Prosecutor General's Office has noted earlier.