A court in Kazan fined participants in a rally in memory of the city’s defenders from the troops of Ivan the Terrible

The Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan fined four participants in a rally in memory of the defenders of the city from the troops of Ivan the Terrible, which took place in October 2021. It is reported by "Kommersant".

The court considered that the activists deviated from the declared topic of the action, allowing "statements containing criticism of the federal and regional authorities." Among those held accountable is the Deputy Chairman of the All-Tatar Public Center (VTOC) Galishan Nuriakhmet. He was found guilty under the article on violation of the order of participation in the action (part 5 of article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) and fined 5,000 rubles.

The organization itself was fined 250 thousand rubles in December 2021 due to criticism of amendments to the Constitution on the status of Russians. VTOC was found guilty under the administrative article on inciting hatred or enmity (Article 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). The reason for the case was the appeal of one of the members of the VTOC presidium to the State Council of Tatarstan at a rally on October 15, 2021, dedicated to the Day of Remembrance .

The event recalled the victims of the capture of the city by the troops of the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible in 1552. Previously, these actions were held without obstacles from law enforcement agencies. In 2021, the center’s appeal was read out at the rallies, which criticized the appearance of the phrase “state-forming people” in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. According to the participants of the action, this phrase refers to representatives of Russian nationality. Activists demand that the parliament of the republic recognize the Tatar people as "state-forming" in the region.

• The All-Tatar Public Center is a large nationalist organization in Tatarstan. For a long time, representatives of the center sought the independence of the republic, and recently the activists of the organization have mainly advocated the protection of the Tatar language and national culture. On October 17, the Ministry of Justice, at the request of the prosecutor's office of the Republic of Tatarstan, suspended the activities of the WTOC. In addition, there is a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of Tatarstan to recognize the VTOC as an extremist organization.