Racism and Xenophobia Update for February 2011

In February 2011, at least 3 people were injured and 3 killed in attacks by neo-Nazis in Russia. The incidents of violence were recorded in Moscow (1 dead), St. Petersburg (3 wounded, 1 dead), and Astrakhan (1 dead).

According to data available to SOVA, at least 17 people were injured and 8 killed so far this year.

In February we recorded at least 3 acts of vandalism motivated by hatred or neo-Nazi sentiment. Muslim graves were defaced in Nizhny Novgorod, as were a pagan temple in Arkhangelsk and a statue of Lenin in Voronezh. This brings the year-to-date total of incidences of xenophobic vandalism to 10.

At least 4 sentences were delivered for violent crimes motivated by hatred, in Moscow, in the Republic of Karelia and in Kemerovo Region. In these trials, seven people were convicted in total, six of whom were given varying terms in a penal colony while the other received a suspended sentence. The most important was the conviction of Nazi skinheads Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky for a racist murder committed in April 2007.

February saw the conclusion of 3 trials for violent crimes, in which however it was unclear whether a hate motive was involved. These trials ended with sentences for the murder of a homeless man in Obninsk (in the Kaluga region), the assault of a Kyrgyz national in Samara, and the beating of an Azeri during an attack on a group of immigrants in Irkutsk.

There was also the conviction of a neo-Nazi for the September 2009 shooting of a group of FSB agents.

These cases bring the year-to-date total of convictions considering the hate motive to 6, issued to a total of 9 people.

At least 4 convictions were given for xenophobic propaganda. The processes took place in the Republic of Kalmykia, Smolensk, and the Arkhangelsk and Orenburg regions, and a total of 5 people were sentenced: two were given suspended sentences, one (the distributor of racist pamphlets in Kalmykia) was given a two-year sentence to be served in a penal colony, and two were given probation for one year. All things considered, the year-to-date total for such decisions is 9 sentences, concerning a total of 14 people.

The Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated five times: on February 4, 9, 11, 17, and 24; paragraphs 764-783 were added. New entries to the list include xenophobic articles from regional newspapers, brochures by P. Khomyakov and A. Ignatiev, the film "Russia With a Knife in the Back 2", a book by Heinrich Himmler, Muslim books and newspapers, material from a blog, and xenophobic leaflets posted to the website “Ichkeria-info.”

The Federal List of Extremist Organizations was updated twice in February; it now includes the groups Slavic Union and Format-18. As a result, the list published on the official website of the Ministry of Justice includes twenty entries. For some reason, organizations identified as terrorist are not included.

We would like to alert readers that findings from our Misuse of Anti-Extremism Legislation project will now be published in their own, separate monthly update.