Holier than the Pope...?

On February 13, 2006, it became known about the next "anti-fascist" action of "United Russia".

On February 9, 2006, the Gorodskie Vesti newspaper published an article "Racists have no place in power" about the signing of an agreement by Volgograd political associations to combat nationalism, xenophobia and religious hatred. The material was illustrated with a picture depicting the founders of the world's major religions (Moses, Christ, Buddha and Mohammed) watching TV, in which representatives of political parties fought each other. "We didn't teach them that ," the characters of the illustration sadly conclude. We note the high quality of the drawing, which, although executed in the style of a newspaper illustration, cannot be called "cartoon".

It was this illustration that caused indignation in the Volgograd branch of the United Russia party, whose representatives turned to the prosecutor's office with a demand to check the newspaper for inciting ethnic hatred, and also called for a boycott of the publication. On the same day (!) the prosecutor of the Volgograd region, Leonid Belyak, sent an official letter to the newspaper with a proposal to take effective measures to prevent this from happening in the future. The letter, in particular, said: "The publication of such caricatures, based on the realities of the complex interreligious situation in the world and in Russia, can cause inadequate perception on the part of believers, serve as a pretext for attempts to incite religious hatred by extremist forces and entail extremely negative consequences. associated, inter alia, with the commission of offenses and crimes on this basis .

On February 10, 2006, representatives of Gorodskiye Vesti stated at a special press conference that the illustration did not carry any offensive connotations, and called the actions of United Russia a political provocation, noting that the negative reaction to the publication from representatives of religious denominations in the Volgograd region have not been reported.

On February 15, it became known that the prosecutor's office of the Volgograd region was checking the newspaper together with the Prosecutor General's Office. Based on the results of the check, the issue of initiating a criminal case against the editorial office of the newspaper under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (inciting hatred or hostility, as well as humiliation of human dignity, including on the basis of attitude to religion). See Democracy Under Siege for details .

The prompt reaction of the prosecutor's office to the letter is noteworthy (the publication in the newspaper was on February 9, and the prosecutor's letter was already on February 10), while for many years in Volgograd public organizations have not been able to prosecute S. Terentyev and his openly anti- Semitic newspaper "Bell".

In this situation, United Russia's statement cannot be regarded otherwise than another political speculation on the topic of inciting national hatred in relation to materials that do not cause outrage even among potential objects of hatred, namely religious communities. Manifestations of national hatred in Volgograd are by no means uncommon. However, United Russia's "caricatured statements" have nothing to do with combating xenophobia.

"Caricature scandal": now in Russia? Generalization // RIA Novosti. 2006. February 15.

Sources

• In Volgograd, "United Russia" found new participants in the "cartoon scandal" // IA REGNUM. 2006. February 13.
• "United Russia" called for a boycott of the Volgograd newspaper because of the cartoon // News of Volgograd.ru. 2006. February 13.
• Letter from the Prosecutor of the Volgograd Region to the newspaper "City News" // Prosecutor's office of the Volgograd region. 2006. February 13.
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