"SOVA" held a seminar "Countering radical nationalism: problems and positive practices"

On April 26, 2005 in Moscow, within the framework of projects aimed at combating ethno-nationalism and xenophobia, the Information and Analytical Center "SOVA" and the Foundation " For Civil Society" held a joint seminar "Counteracting Radical Nationalism: Problems and Positive Practices".

The seminar was attended by scientists, lawyers, NGO activists from Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, St. Petersburg, Pskov, Saratov, Khabarovsk, Tomsk, Voronezh. The discussion of the problems of counteracting ethno-nationalism and xenophobia was built, first of all, on examples of more or less successful law enforcement: we consider this way more fruitful than repeating well-known criticism in cases of unsuccessful law enforcement.

nationalist propaganda deputy director of the SOVA Center, delivered an overview report on the prosecution of violent, racially motivated crimes and ethno- Galina Kozhevnikova, .

, a representative of the Youth Human Rights Group, Aleksey Kozlov gave an overview of the situation surrounding the investigation into the murder of African student Amaru Lim in Voronezh in February 2004, and how the activity of public organizations influenced the situation around the investigation of hate crimes in such a problematic from the point of view of the activity of radical nationalists region, like the Voronezh region.

, head of the Saratov Regional Prosecutor's Office, Yury Burlakov spoke about the investigation into the murder of ethnic Avar Dzhavad Sheikhov in the summer of 2004 and about the measures taken by the Saratov Regional Prosecutor's Office and other law enforcement agencies to prevent extremist manifestations in the region.

, head of the public organization Pskov Outback, Anna Vanina spoke about the attempts of Pskov human rights activists to initiate a criminal case under Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation against the newspaper Nad Lovatyu, which published excerpts from the anti-Semitic Catechism of a Jew in the USSR in 2004.

Head of the Center for Interethnic Interaction "Dialog" Ekaterina Borisova shared her experience in countering the dissemination of xenophobic publications out of court - using the authority of corporate public organizations, such as regional chambers for information disputes.

The second part of the seminar was devoted to the problems of expertise in cases related to inciting ethnic or religious hatred.

, co-authors of the brochure "Socio-Humanitarian Expertise of Hate Crimes", and Natalia Valentina Uzunova and Alexander Vinnikov , employees of the Research Institute of the Prosecutor General's Office, Ratinova and Mikhail Kroz presented their positions and developments on these issues .

During the discussion, problems related to the issues raised by the speakers were discussed: the formal organization of appeals to law enforcement agencies, the experience of informal communication, the possibility of positive interaction between state, primarily law enforcement agencies and public organizations and the expert community, fundamental differences in the organization of public expertise and the necessary standards expert opinion for the trial.

Then the seminar continued as a working meeting of the participants of the monitoring project of the Foundation for Civil Society.

We are planning to place the seminar materials in the "Our publications" section in the near future.

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