A High Profile Neo-nazi Leader Currently Under Investigation

On September 27, 2007, in Voronezh, a criminal case was filed against Dmitry Rumyantsev for the dissemination of hate propaganda covered under article 282, part 1 (incitement of hatred on the basis of race and ethnicity). Rumyantsev is one of the leaders of the National-Socialist Society (NSO), a relatively small, but well-promoted neo-nazi network. The charges have been brought in connection with his speech at a demonstration in Voronezh on July 21, 2007.

The demonstration was organized by a local department of the Union of Russian People (SRN) to celebrate "the glory of Russian arms" and Rumyantsev arrived from Moscow to make a speech full of open calls to murder the "invaders" of "Russian land".

According to the press-release of the Prosecutor's Office of Voronezh, Rumyantsev is stated as a leader of SRN. This mistake is presumably due to the fact that Rumyantsev is not very active in Voronezh. Moreover, Russian law enforcement authorities have no experience in prosecuting such leaders of informal network organizations as Rumyantsev. Thus, the Voronezh Prosecutor's Office hasn't managed to determine the correct affiliation of Rumyantsev, bringing charges only for hate propaganda, and not for creating extremist associations (article 282-1).

However, the NSO has just undergone a crisis starting after the arrest of Maxim Martsinkevich (alias Tesak). In September, the organization split into two parts, with Rumyantsev and Sergey Korotkikh (alias Malyuta) emerging as leaders. In this situation, a hate propaganda charge against one of the most well-known among neo-nazis activists might not only demoralize the far right, but also intensify the crisis and reduce the activity of the NSO.