Racism and Xenophobia in Russia. Monthly Report for July 2011

In July 2012, no fewer than 12 people were harmed by violence with racist and neo-Nazi motivations. One of those 12 was killed (a native of Tajikistan.) The attacks occurred in the Moscow Region, as well as the Republic of Komi.

In total since the year began, as a result of racist violence six people have been killed and 115 injured, and one person received death threats. The incidents occurred in 18 regions of Russia. Currently Moscow (1 dead, 35 injured,) the Moscow Region (1 dead, 17 injured) and Saint Petersburg (1 dead, 18 injured) are the main hotbeds of violence. There are also a large number of victims in the Republic of Bashkortostan (11 beaten.) In the remaining regions, the number of victims does not exceed 5 people. The main objects of violence are representatives of young and informal groups (44 beaten,) Central Asian natives (2 dead, 19 injured,) people with dark skin (16 beaten,) “Jehovah’s Witnesses” (7 injured) and Caucasian natives (2 dead, 3 injured.)

In July 2012, 14 acts of vandalism related to xenophobia were reported in 10 regions of the country. In July, the main objects of this vandalism were ideological objects (5 cases,) Jewish objects (4 cases,) Protestant objects and “Jehovah’s Witnesses” buildings (2 cases.) In addition, vandals also harmed Catholic, Orthodox, and Muslim buildings (one case of each.)

In total since the year began, we have reported 45 acts of neo-Nazi vandalism in 24 regions of the country.

Public activity by ultra-rightists was not high in July. The biggest action, organized by the “Right to Arms” organization (Maria Butina,) took place in a few cities across the country on July 1, the anniversary of the incident at Sagra. Several groups, many of whom are nationalist, took part in the Moscow meetings, which took place next to the “1905 Street” metro station. They included: Liberal Democratic Party, the Libertarian Party (Alexander Shirokovskikh-Smirnov,) the National Democratic Party (NDP, K. Krylov, V. Tor,) “Great Russia” (A. Savelev) and the Union of Orthodox Bannerbearers, the Right Conservative Alliance (PKA, A. Mikhailov.) Additionally, demonstrations took place in Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Syktyvkar and Barnaul.

Right-wing radicals have attempted to color the tragedies in the Krymsk region as ethno-national: a message on the “interethnic conflict” raging in Krymsk appeared on the website of the “Russian” association. They continued to engage in the promotion of various local conflicts, including the conflict between local residents and Dagestani immigrants in the village of Demyanovo, Kirov Region.

In July 2012, no fewer than 4 guilty verdicts were passed against 8 people for racist violence, with hatred recognized by the court as a motive. These cases were judged in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, the Astrakhan Region and the Republic of Altai. The best known of those was the ruling of the Saint Petersburg Municipal Court against Georgi Timofeev, the leader of the neo-Nazi group NS/WP, who received 13 years in a high security colony. In addition, on July 23, 2012, the Judicial Board on Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation considered a complaint against a ruling by the Moscow Municipal Court filed by members of the neo-Nazi group “Autonomous Military Terrorist Organization” (AMTO) and mitigated the sentences of the four who had been convicted. It is noteworthy that one of the AMTO activists, Ksenia Povazhnaya, is a member of the “Rudolph Hess Association of White Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners,” which is headed by Nikola Korolev, who was imprisoned for life for the explosion at the Cherkizovsky Market.

Since the year began, a total of 16 convictions for violent crimes motivated by hatred have been pronounced. Forty-five people in 12 regions of the country have been judged in these cases.

In July 2012, nine guilty verdicts were pronounced for xenophobic propaganda in eight regions of the country. In these verdicts, nine people were judged, five of whom were sentenced to compulsory labor, one person to correctional labor, one person to a suspended sentence, one person was fined and one was sentenced to prison (in conjunction with previously committed crimes.)

In total since the start of 2012, 47 sentences have been pronounced against 67 people in 33 regions of the country for xenophobic propaganda.

In the course of the previous month, the Federal List of Extremist Materials was amended six times, with pages 1272-1364 added. Added to the list were xenophobic videos from the “VKontakte” social network recognized as extremist by various courts in the Kursk and Murmansk Regions, opposition leaflets, an article from the NPF “Pamyat,” two neopagan books and an entire series of Islamic materials, including articles containing calls to armed jihad from the websites kavkazweb, islamdin, djamaattakbir.com.

On July 18, the organization “Blood&Honour” was mistakenly added to the list of extremist materials. The Supreme Court of the RF recognized the organization as extremist on May 29, 2012. After the publication of a news item on the SOVA Center website, the mistake was corrected, and the organization was deleted from the list without the preservation of the numbering change, and was added to the Federal List of Extremist Organizations. Due to this action, the official list of extremist organizations now includes 29 organizations (organizations which have been recognized as terrorist have to this day not been included in the list.)