MINELRES: UNITED: Anti-fascist murdered in Russia

MINELRES moderator [email protected]
Sun Jun 27 18:42:14 2004


Original sender: UNITED <[email protected]>


UNITED E-NEWS 22/06/2004: Anti-fascist murdered in St. Petersburg

Underneath you find the message that we received from our colleagues 
in St Petersburg about the murder of a colleague in the struggle 
against racism, fascism and intolerance.  Mr Girenko spoke at the 
UNITED conference in St Petersburg from 17-21 October 2001. He was a 
man who was very open about his opinions, who did not mind if people 
disagreed with them. He has contributed greatly to the anti-fascist 
movement in St Petersburg. We mourn his loss and send our deepest 
regrets to his family.
If you wish to send a message to our colleagues in Russia, please 
send it to [email protected]. We will forward it.

UNITED


***forwarded message***

Dear Colleagues,

Last Saturday, Nikolay Girenko, the public face of the anti-fascist 
movement of St. Petersburg was assasinated at his home. He was shot 
by unknown gunners, who fired at him through the door of his 
appartment. The numerous bullets they used killed him at the spot. 
The event happened in the morning, while mr. Girenko's wife and 
daughter were at home. The gunmen rang the doorbell and when 
Girenko's daughter asked who was there, they told her to get Girenko. 
She didn't open, but informed her father, who went and didn't open 
the door either, but was met by a hail of bullets. No-one publicly 
claimed the murder.

Mr. Girenko was a well known professor and specialist on Africa and a 
devoted anti-fascist and anti-racist activist. He was chairman of the 
Ethnical Minority Rights' NGO, one of the main anti-racist 
organisations in St. Petersburg and had an official status consulting 
the local authorities on minority rights. Mr. Girenko was often 
invited to forums, public meetings and talk shows as a representative 
of the anti-fascist movement.

As an anti-racist and anti-fascist mr. Girenko made great efforts 
against the racist violence against foreign students. He supported 
legal cases against fascists and fascist organisations as an expert. 
One of his last expertises was against the Shultz 88 movement and it 
supported the successful outcome of the trial against them.
We are shocked and saddened by this event. Knowing mr. Girenko 
personally, we have no reasons to believe, that the intention to 
murder him could be other than politically motivated. The next issue 
of Anti-fashistsky Motiv and a press conference on neo-nazism in 
Russia on the 22nd of June will be dedicated to the memory of Nikolay 
Girenko.  

Anti-fascist commission of Memorial


-- 
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UNITED is the pan-European network against nationalism, racism, 
fascism and in support of migrants and refugees, supported by over 
560 organisations in 46 European countries.
How to join the network: see http://www.unitedagainstracism.org 
'joining the network'

UNITED E-NEWS is an irregular email service to 4500 organisations and 
contact persons active in the working  fields: anti-racism, refugee 
support, anti-fascism, against antisemitism, migration, minority 
issues, intercultural youth work, against nationalism etc.

Regular postal mailings, containing publications such as Addressbook 
Against Racism, Calendar of Internationalism, Campaign reports, 
Posters etc. are sent to over 2200 European organisations.  If you 
also would like to receive this mailing: see 
http://www.unitedagainstracism.org 'joining the network'

----
UNITED for Intercultural Action
European network against nationalism, racism, fascism and in support 
of migrants and refugees
Postbus 413   -  NL 1000 AK Amsterdam
phone +31-20-6834778  -  fax +31-20-6834582
[email protected]  -  http://www.unitedagainstracism.org

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