Nazi skinheads sentenced for attacking rapper

June 5, 2012 Sverdlovsky the district court of the city of Kostroma announced the sentencing in a criminal case in regarding 19-year-old Egor E. and 21-year-old Vyacheslav K., who were accused of attacking the rapper on January 7, 2011. They were found guilty under s. "e" part 2 of Art. 112 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (intentional infliction of severity of harm to human health motivated by hatred or hostility towards any social group).

According to the prosecutor's office, "young people are members of an informal youth skinhead movements and support the National Socialist ideology, ideas of racial separatism and white supremacy" . The reason for the attack was precisely that the victim was a rapper.

Egor E. and Vyacheslav K. recognized guilty, they were sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 1 year from serving in a colony-settlement and 3 years with serving in a correctional colony common mode, respectively.

From the convicts to the account compensation for moral damage caused to the victim, monetary funds in the amount of 200 thousand rubles.

In our opinion, the use of anti-extremist legislation in this case is not enough justified. It is unlikely that rappers can be considered as a separate social group. In addition, in our opinion, the list of vulnerable groups protected by anti-extremist legislation is not infinite. Overly expansive interpretation of this list leads, for example, to the fact that anti-extremist legislation is used to protect groups such as "nationalists" or "police officers".

Sources

• In Kostroma, a verdict was passed against "skinheads" // Official website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Kostroma Region. 2012. June 5.