COMMENTARY: RUSSIA: Art curators' verdict not isolatedinstance – this is a system By Alexander Verkhovsky, SOVA Center for Information andAnalysis The conviction of art curators Yury Samodurov and AndreiYerofeev is the most high-profile symptom of the problems flowing from Russiananti-extremism legislation, notes Alexander Verkhovsky, Director of theMoscow-based SOVA Center for Information and Analysis http://www.sova-center.ru , in a commentaryfor Forum 18 News Service http://www.forum18.org

On July 19, 2010, the Federal list of extremist materials . It included paragraphs. 677-680. These are the materials Caucasian separatists and an anti-Chechen article from the Great Encyclopedia Publishing house "Terra". In the current update, there are as many as three duplicate materials - paragraph 677 repeats paragraph 619; 678 - 620 and 679 - 621.

July 15, 2010 Irek Murtazin, convicted in November 2009 year under Part 2 of Art. 129 (slander) and part 1 of Art. 282 (inciting hatred) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, applied to the European Court of Human Rights with a complaint about the violation of his right to freedom of expression, guaranteed by article 10 of the Convention on the Protection of human and fundamental freedoms, as well as the right to a fair trial proceedings under Article 6 of the Convention.

July 16, 2010 Supreme Court of the Russian Federation submitted to the State Duma a draft federal law “On Amendments to Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation”, one of the articles of which suggests include among the “grounds for reviewing court decisions that have entered into legal force”, judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (para. 4. p. 3. Art. 392 of the said federal law). A similar rule already exists in criminal and arbitration procedural codes.

July 17, 2010 Protvinsky City Court of the Moscow Region returned to the prosecutor's office the case of members local branch of DPNI. The court concluded that the indictment was compiled in violation. Recall, by case are 9 young people who, in the interval from autumn 2008 to the summer of 2009 carried out racist attacks in the city against visitors. Sources Official website of the Protvinsky City Court of the Moscow Region

June 10, 2010 in the building of the State Duma took place round table "On the issue of recognition genocide of the Russian people. The event was organized by a certain Russian social movement "Renaissance. Golden Age" under the leadership of Nikolai Levashov (one of whose books was recently recognized as extremist) and deputies LDPR faction headed by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who also took part in meeting.

July 20 2010 Oktyabrsky District Court of Saransk, the court delivered a verdict in the case young people, suspected of organizing and participating in the association "Noble Organ devil".

On July 19, 2010, the Federation Council approved a bill on additions to the Federal Law "On the Federal Security Service" and to the Code on administrative offenses (CAO) of the Russian Federation. The bill gives FSB officers have the right to issue to individuals and legal entities warnings. It also establishes administrative responsibility for disobeying the lawful demands of FSB officers, but from among these requirements exclude preventive warnings.

June 16, 2010 Arbitration Court of the Vladimir Region recognized the churches of the ROAC in the villages of Pavlovsky and Borisovsky, Suzdal district property of the administration of the Vladimir region. Recall that the process the seizure of these temples began in 2009. On July 16, 2010, the representative of the ROAC in the arbitration court sent to the First Arbitration Court of Appeal of the Russian Federation an appeal against this decision.

July 13, 2010 local religious organization Jehovah's Witnesses "Gorno-Altaysk" appealed to the Judicial Collegium for Civil cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation with a complaint against the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic Altai dated January 27, 2010, upholding the decision of the city court Gorno-Altaisk on the recognition of a number of materials of Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist.

July 17, 2010 Islamnews announced that in Kazan the management of the car dealership threatened to fire an employee who came to work in a hijab. R. Ziganshina said that she was given a choice - to remove handkerchief or no longer work. She emphasizes that in the contract she signed, there was no mention of a dress code. According to Islamnews, the director of the car dealership claims that the headscarf scares customers. On July 20, it became known that R. Ziganshina was fired.

On July 14, 2010, it became known that the Union of ECB churches Tambov region failed to hold the planned evangelistic events in the Sosnovsky district of the Tambov region. The organizers of the events submitted a notice of their intentions in advance to the district administration. A week later, a response was received, according to which Baptists were encouraged to file a notice with the village administration. Notification was filed, but the administration refused it.

July 15, 2010 Supreme Court Republic of Tatarstan decided to oblige the Ministry of Justice register the religious organization "Church of Scientology in St. Nizhnekamsk". This decision is a step towards the implementation of the resolution European Court of Human Rights "Kimlya and Others v. Russia" from 1 October 2009.