Chronicle of the Guilty Verdicts for Hate Motivated Vandalism. 2009

*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.

The list of guilty verdicts for 2008 you can find in the section "Reports and Analyses".*

February, 4, 2009, Moscow. Guilty verdict issued for neo-nazi graffiti. Two persons sentenced to suspended imprisonment withoud additional sanctions.

March, 30, 2009, Achinsk, Krasnoyarsk territory. Guilty verdict issued for xenophobic and neo-nazi graffiti in a town Memory Alley in September, 2008. One person sentenced to 2 years imprisonment in a penal colony settlement.

May, 5, Yekaterinburg. Guilty verdict issued for contamination of town Siberian cemetery. One person sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment in standard regime penal colony.

July, 13, 2009, Ivanovo. Guilty verdict issued for contamination of tatar graves in 2007. One person sentenced to 1.5 years of imprisonment. According to the principle of cumulative sentencing under article 163 of Criminal Code of Russian Federation (extortion commited with violence) - to 4 years and 6 months of imprisonment in a standard regime penal colony.

October, 2009, Sergiev Posad, Moscow region. Guilty verdict issued for contamination of military memorial in June, 2009. One person sentenced to suspended imprisonment without additional sanctions.