August 2009. Monthly results

During August 2009, according to our data, at least 23 people suffered from racist and neo-Nazi attacks, three of whom died, in four regions of Russia - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kirov and Ufa (in August 2008, 11 people died, received injuries and injuries of varying severity).

A significant part of the August incidents took place on the day of the Airborne Forces, which is traditionally marked by mass fights of drunken paratrooper veterans, including openly racist ones. On August 2, 2009, we recorded at least one dead and 6 wounded - without taking into account two mass fights in Nizhny Novgorod and the Moscow region. The remaining attacks were carried out by Nazi skinheads and representatives of other ultra-right movements.

In total, since the beginning of 2009, at least 42 people have died in 33 regions of Russia from racist and neo-Nazi attacks, and at least 216 have received various injuries. During the same period in 2008, 85 people died and at least 328 were injured.

In August, at least four acts of vandalism were recorded in four Russian regions. The Protestant church (in Vladivostok) and Orthodox churches and cemeteries (in Moscow, Pskov and Penza regions) suffered from the hands of vandals. In Vladivostok and Moscow, they tried to burn churches. In total, since the beginning of the year, we have recorded at least 60 acts of ideologically and racist motivated vandalism, including 7 arsons. In particular, out of the recorded incidents, 22 episodes of actions of "ideological" vandalism (desecration of monuments of the Great Patriotic War, organized actions to apply neo-Nazi graffiti, etc.) account for 22 episodes, Jewish objects - 15 episodes, Orthodox - 11 episodes, Muslim - 5 episodes .

In connection with the start of election campaigns in several regions of Russia, the propaganda activity of informal ultra-right groups and xenophobic propaganda of registered political organizations has intensified. This is most noticeable in Moscow, where a number of radical nationalists of varying degrees of prominence are running for the Moscow City Duma, and the LDPR and Soviet Russia, associated with the Communist Party, have already been marked by xenophobic publications. A noticeable resonance was caused by the intention of the leader of the Russian National Unity, Alexander Barkashov, to run for the post of head of one of the cities near Moscow. Despite the trial against the leader of the Union of Slavs of the Far East, Aleksey Komarov, his organization declares its intention to participate in the municipal elections in Vladivostok and in August held a mass action to put up SS stickers.

In August, four times (August 3, 5, 13 and 14) the Federal List of Extremist Materials was replenished - it included paragraphs. 404-414. The most scandalous is the last item, which is an extremely sloppy list of materials, most of which cannot be identified. The scandal caused a certain "flag with a cross", which was included in this list. Since the flag is not additionally described in any way, it should be considered that at present all flags on which crosses are depicted in one form or another are prohibited in Russia (including the flags of a number of states, the flag of the Red Cross, etc.). It should be noted that the statements of officials that such an interpretation of the ban is not correct is nothing more than demagoguery: all the existing precedents for holding individuals and legal entities liable for the distribution of extremist materials are based on literally following the list, even in cases where the material is not subject to precise identification.

In total, as of August 31, 2009, the list included 414 items (some of which include several items), including 5 materials in respect of which court decisions on recognizing them as extremist were canceled, as well as 13 materials included in the list twice and one - thrice.

In August, at least four convictions were handed down for violent crimes, in which the motive of hatred was taken into account - in Voronezh, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg and St. Petersburg. In total, 14 people were convicted in these trials, four of whom were released from punishment for various reasons. In total, since the beginning of the year, 30 trials related to violent racist crimes have ended with convictions. 84 people were convicted in them.

The penalties were distributed as follows:

3 people were released from punishment in connection with the reconciliation of the parties,

3 - released from punishment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations,

19 - sentenced on probation without additional sanctions,

6 - to corrective labor,

1 - sent for compulsory treatment,

7 - sentenced to 2 to 3 years in prison,

11 - from 3 to 5 years,

9 people - from 5 to 10 years old,

7 people - from 10 to 15 years in prison,

3 people - from 17 to 19 years in prison,

1 - 23 years in prison.

With regard to some of the defendants in the three group trials, we do not know the specific dates. In the first case, 4 people were sentenced to terms of 7.5 to 11 years, in the second - 6 people to terms of 3.5 to 10 years, and in the third - 4 people to terms of 14 to 17 years in prison.

Three guilty verdicts were handed down in August for xenophobic propaganda against three people (in the Arkhangelsk and Vladimir regions and the Krasnodar Territory). In all three cases, the convicts were sentenced to corrective labor.

In total, since the beginning of the year for xenophobic propaganda under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (inciting hatred), 25 convictions were issued against 35 people (18 of them were sentenced on probation and without additional sanctions).

In the field of misuse of anti-extremist legislation, two developments were most notable.

The first was a continuation of the persecution of the Ufa Gubernskaya website, which is in opposition to the republican authorities of Bashkortostan. A wide response was caused by the arrest of five people in Ufa on charges of extremist propaganda, among them - well-known academic scientists. A few days later, four of the five defendants were released, some on bail, and some under house arrest.

The second event is the decision of the Supreme Court of Russia of June 9, 2009, published in August. It is connected with an attempt to close the newspaper "Pamyat-Novosibirsk" for two anti-extremist warnings. The court did not (and we do not) question the legitimacy of the warnings themselves, but pointed to an illegitimate reference to earlier warnings when deciding to close the newspaper. Since a warning is primarily a preventive measure, the publication should be able to correct violations. Therefore, each subsequent warning can only be issued for material published or shown after the first warning was issued. The Supreme Court ruled that it was in this case that the violation would be considered repeated, and it was in this case that a lawsuit could be initiated to close the publication for repeated violations. The court's decision should put an end to the widespread practice of pressure on the media, when any two warnings, including those issued very late, become the basis for a closure suit.