Translated material
St. Petersburg State University dismantled the bust of Akhmet-Zaki Validi
Earlier, the prosecutor's office issued a recommendation to the university to eliminate violations of extremist legislation.
On January 27, 2021, the media discovered that the bust of Akhmet-Zaki Validi (Validov) (1890-1970), a Turkic scholar and military-political figure, leader of the Bashkir national movement, located in the courtyard of St. Petersburg State University, was dismantled.
The bust was erected in 2008 as part of the opening of the Validi Center for Turkic Studies at the University. For several years, the educational institution received requests to check the legality of the installation of the bust on the territory of the university. After yet another such appeal, St Petersburg University applied to the prosecutor's office with a request to conduct an appropriate check.
On January 18, 2021, the university received a response from the prosecutor's office , in which the department concluded that "placing a bust of a person who, during the Great Patriotic War, disseminated ideas about creating a state on a national basis and about the superiority of one nation over the rest, which, according to Russian law, is criminal crime, as well as the "Akhmet-Zaki Museum" on the territory of the university testifies to the glorification of the acts of accomplices of Nazi criminals, contradicts the legislation on countering extremist activities, has a negative impact on students and is unacceptable." The prosecutor's office issued a proposal to St Petersburg University to eliminate violations of the law.
The university immediately stated that it did not intend to challenge the agency's submission. Meanwhile, Bashkir public organizations expressed concern about the situation and pointed to the merits of Validi as an outstanding scientist and the groundlessness of the accusations against him.
In our opinion, the submission was made unlawfully to the university. Validi's adherence to the ideas of Bashkir nationalism and pan-Turkism does not provide grounds for linking his name and activities with German Nazism, and therefore talking about a violation of the law on countering extremism or the presence of Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code on the rehabilitation of Nazism.
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