Round table on the problems of nationalism in Voronezh

On March 10, 2005, the Prosecutor's Office of the Voronezh Region hosted a round table on the topic "Extremism and Nationalist Manifestations".

The round table was attended by virtually all interested persons from the Central Internal Affairs Directorate, the prosecutor's office, the FSB, Alexander Ponomarev (the prosecutor of the Voronezh region), Pavel Korablev (the chief federal inspector for the Voronezh region), the military prosecutor of the Voronezh garrison, the military commissar of the Voronezh region, representatives of the administration of the Voronezh region , representatives of the Public Chamber of the Voronezh Region, human rights organizations. Neither the mayor of the city of Voronezh, nor any of his deputies could take part in the discussion of the problem.

A few months ago, a meeting on this topic was already held in the regional prosecutor's office. Then the subject of discussion was the murder of an African student . At the round table, Alexander Ponomarev said that "according to the decision of the Supreme Court, the murder was committed on the basis of national-racial hatred. The materials of this case indicate that young people lived for the fascist idea . "

Representatives of the Committee on Nationalities Affairs of the Civic Chamber of the Voronezh Region spoke at the round table. The committee unites 16 national diasporas of the city of Voronezh, legally registered and representing the interests of almost all national minorities living in the city. Literally at every meeting of the committee, representatives of various diasporas make statements about another violation of human rights by representatives of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate.

Committee Chairman Arsen Papazyan stated that under the pretext of the "Whirlwind-anti-terror" operation, the documents of foreign citizens, including those from neighboring countries, are being checked. Police officers exceed their powers, in some cases forcing people to lie down on the floor (For example, checking documents in the Ani cafe). Such actions of the police have long been popularly nicknamed "mask shows" .

Arsen Papazyan, who is also the chairman of the Armenian diaspora, said that representatives of the diaspora are sympathetic to the activities of the police, but draw the attention of the leadership of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate to the inadmissible methods of work of some employees.

Anatoly Sherman, Chairman of the Jewish National Autonomy and Chairman of the Entrepreneurship Committee of the Public Chamber, drew attention to the economic inexpediency of extremism.

It was noted at the round table that the problems of extremism are among the most acute. Youth informal groupings are of particular concern. It was emphasized that in order to reduce the number of extremist nationalist manifestations in society, constant preventive work is necessary, and the authorities should take on most of it, while protecting the rights of citizens.

Sources

• A round table on the problems of nationalism was held in Voronezh // IA REGNUM. March 11, 2005
• Voronezh. Round table "The problem of preventing extremist and nationalist manifestations" // Regions.ru. 2005. March 16