Ceremony at the Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington, DC.

Each year the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation awards the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom to those who have distinguished themselves in opposing communism and tyranny as well as advancing freedom and democracy. This year the recipients were Myroslav Marynovych, a Ukrainian human rights advocate and distinguished civil-society leader and Mustafa Dzhemilev, political leader of the Crimean Tatars and member of the Ukrainian parliament. The medal presentation ceremony was presided over by the Chairman of the Foundation, Dr. Lee Edwards.

The Victims of Communism Memorial was dedicated in 2007 by President George W. Bush and is located in the Capitol Hill district, at the intersection of Massachusetts and New Jersey Avenues. The Memorial\'s statue, "Goddess of Democracy", is a bronze replica of a statue erected in Tiananmen Square, Beijing in 1989 by Chinese students. This year the foundation announced a new project called “Build the Museum” to build an international museum on communism in Washington DC and informed that the government of Hungary has donated 1 million dollars to this effort.

More information about the initiative can be found at http://buildthemuseum.com/