MINELRES: UNITED: Radical antifascist was shot in Russia

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Original sender: UNITED <notreply@unitedagainstracism.org> 


UNITED E-NEWS 24/11/2009

Radical antifascist was shot in Russia - The wheel of violence goes
round and round

On the 17th of November 2009 Ivan Khutorskoy, aka Vanya-Kostolom, a
26-year-old radical antifascist, was shot at the threshold of his flat
in Moscow. Ivan's contacts and home address had many times been posted
on right-wing extremists web-sites and he had also been attacked by the
Neo-Nazis four times prior the murder. Ivan was actively involved in
organizing security of antifascist music concerts. 

The next day dozens of antifascists with fire sticks and empty bottles
counterattacked the office of pro-Kremlin organization 'Young Russia',
the leader of which - the member of State Duma Maxim Mishchenko - openly
collaborates with the right-wing extremist group 'Russian image'
('Russkiy Obraz'). This action was also devoted to the murder of S.
Markelov and A. Baburova who had been shot dead in January 2009. One of
the suspects, who is now being detained, happens to be the former
'Russian Image' activist. 

The attackers are still to be identified. On the one hand, experts from
analytical center SOVA state that Ivan Khutorskoy's murder is highly
likely to be political, whereas the left-wing activists, anarchists and
radical antifascists bluntly call Neo-nazis to be the perpetrators. On
the other hand, leaders of ultra nationalistic groups like the Slavic
Union ('Slavyanskiy Soyuz') or Movement against Illegal Migration
('Dvizhenie protiv Nelegal'noy Migrazii') claim to have not been
involved in the murder, but shift responsibility to the special
services, that allegedly instigate a war between antifascists and
right-wing radicals. 

Nevertheless, this is already widely-spread in the media that this is
the 7th murder of antifascists in Moscow. The other victims of Neo-Nazis
were: A. Ryukhin (musician), S. Markelov (lawyer), A. Baburova
(journalist), A. Krylov (antifascist), F. Filatov (antifascist
skinhead), I. Dzhaparidze (antifascist football supporter). 

The general context depicts that the absence of systematic actions
against xenophobia in Russia, leads to mistrust to the state on behalf
of the youth, who step into violent actions against Neo-Nazis. If
previously these were fights, now these are gun killings. At the moment
both radical movements - antifascists and right-wing extremists are
marginalized due to the high rate of violence involved, that cannot by
accepted by the majority of the population. And without clear
antifascist stance of other sectors of society (authorities first of
all, but also academicians, artists, musicians, etc), this wheel goes
round and round. 

For more info please contact: Youth Human Rights Movement 
ynri@yhrm.org
 

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