MINELRES: News from the SOVA Center

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News from the SOVA Center

06.01.2010
 
Galina Kozhevnikova. The Ultra-Nationalist Renaissance, Autumn 2009:
>From RNE to Kolovrat
http://xeno.sova-center.ru/6BA2468/6BB4208/E2B627C
Edited by Aleksandr Verkhovsky

SUMMARY

The autumn of 2009 became a period of revival and active party building
for veterans of the national-patriotic movement. Russian National Unity
(Russkoe natsional�noe edinstvo), People�s National Party (Narodnaya
natsional�naya partiya), the Union of Officers (Soyuz ofitserov), and
the Party of Freedom (Partiya svobody) attracted attention during this
period. Nevertheless, the main ultra-right coalitions that were formed
last year are more visible than the veterans. These are the coalition
around the Movement against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) and the Slavic
Union (Slavyansky soyuz, SS) and the coalition around the Russian Mode
(Russky obraz). The two coalitions held the most significant activities
of the �Russian March� in 2009. This year, the �Russian March� took
place in no less than 12 regions of Russia.

In autumn, �ideological� vandalism advertising ultra-right groups
(�Russian Mode� and �Resistance� (Soprotivlenie), first of all)
drastically increased. Groups ready to assume responsibility for real
and fictitious terrorist attacks (from the intended blowing up of an FSB
local reception office to the Nevsky Express bombing) appear more and
more often. But some ultra-right groups are really shifting to acts of
sabotage and terrorism: attacks on individuals have become less
attractive for some racists. 

The level of racist violence this autumn appeared to be twice as low as
the year before. This is undoubtedly connected with the activity of law
enforcement agencies this year, in Moscow, first of all.

Autumn saw the largest number of guilty verdicts against right radicals
in almost every kind of case during the years they are being issued,
including verdicts concerning crimes of violence, ideologically
motivated vandalism, calls to extremist activity linked to
manifestations of xenophobia. In all of these cases, one can note both
the improvement of juridical classification of crimes and the adequacy
of verdicts. 

But the measures against xenophobic propaganda cannot be assessed
positively. The state still persecutes graffitists and internet
chatterers who are of little danger, whilst ignoring the activities of
ideologists who are popular and authoritative within the ultra-right
community.

The situation regarding the illegal exploitation of anti-extremist laws
has not improved either. The main tendencies here are still the
broadening of �social group� concept, the persecution of Jehovah�s
Witnesses (a campaign that represents a massive assault on freedom of
conscience) and the persecution of the banned National Bolshevik Party
(Natsional-bol�shevistskaya partiya).  

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05.01.2010

December 2009 Monthly Summary and Preliminary Resume of 2009
http://xeno.sova-center.ru/6BA2468/6BB41EE/E2ADF6C 

In December 2009, Sova center registered at least four murdered and six
injured in racist and neo-Nazo motivated violence acts. Besides Moscow
and St. Petersburg, an attack took place in Petrozavodsk. (In December
2008, at least four were murdered and at least 34 injured.) 
In all, from the beginning of the year, according to our sources, at
least 60 people were murdered and at least 306 injured in violent hate
crimes (in 2008, at least 110 were murdered and at least 486 injured).

------------------------

04.01.2010
 
Chronicle of Guilty Verdicts for Hate Motivated Violence. 2009
http://xeno.sova-center.ru/6BA2468/6BB4208/E29821F 
We publish the list of the guilty verdicts for violence issued in Russia
in 2009 in which the hate motive was officially recognized. The list was
made on the basis of the SOVA Center daily monitoring. In all, in 2009,
we registered 44 guilty verdicts in 25 regions of Russia. (Some links
are in Russian).
 
Chronicle of the Guilty Verdicts for Propaganda of Xenophobia in Russia.
2009 
http://xeno.sova-center.ru/6BA2468/6BB4208/E2984B4 
In 2009 no less than 38 guilty verdicts were issued for racist
propaganda in 27 regions of Russia. Here is the general list of these
verdicts. (Some links are in Russian.) 
We present the list of guilty verdicts under the art. 282, which we
consider to be unlawful, separately. In 2009 there were 3 such verdicts. 
 
Chronicle of the Guilty Verdicts for Hate Motivated Vandalism. 2009 
http://xeno.sova-center.ru/6BA2468/6BB4208/E2985E5 
We publish a list of the guilty verdicts rendered under art. 214
(vandalism) and art. 244 (hate motivated annihilation or damage to
graveyards), in which hate motive was taken into consideration. 
In 2009 a historical maximum of such verdicts was reached, however,
compared to widespread vandalism practice, their quantity is ludicrously
small: in five regions of Russia (Moscow, Ivanovo region, Moscow region,
Sverdlovsk region and Krasnoyarsk territory) five verdicts were issued
(one in every region), by which 6 persons in total were convicted. 
 
www.sova-center.ru

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