Racism and Xenophobia Update for March 2011

In March 2011, at least 1 person was killed and 3 injured across Russia in attacks by neo-Nazis. Violent incidents were recorded in Moscow (1 injured) and St. Petersburg (2 injured and 1 dead).

According to data available to SOVA Center, this brings the year-to-date tally of neo-Nazi victims to 32, including 9 deaths. Seven regions of Russia were affected: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Astrakhan, Voronezh, the Ryazan and Samara Oblasts, and the Komi Republic. Please note that these numbers do not include victims of brawls involving larger numbers of people, or victims of incidents in the North Caucasus.

In February, we recorded no fewer than 5 acts of vandalism whose motives could be interpreted as hateful or neo-Nazi in ideology. This means that since the beginning of 2010, we have counted at least 17 incidents in total.

March 2011 saw at least 4 convictions in cases regarding racist violence that considered the hate motive; one each in Moscow City proper, the Moscow region, Tatarstan, and the Altai Krai. The cases led to convictions against 12 people. Of those, three were given conditional sentences while the rest were given varying prison terms.

The most notable of these cases was a verdict in Barnaul, in the Altai Krai. The case concerned a group accused of committing a number of racist attacks between December 2009 and February 2010. The violence caused injuries of varying degrees to three people, and a South Korean student was killed.

Eleven sentences in 8 regions have been given since the beginning of the year in cases of racist violence, accounting for the hate motive. The sentences follow rulings against 26 people, 9 of whom received probation without further sanctions.

At least two sentences were given for xenophobic propaganda, which is treated under Article 282 of the Criminal Code. One regarded xenophobic graffiti on walls at a college at Yuriev-Polski in the Vladimir region, and the other, anti-Caucasian texts and pictures posted to the Internet from the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District. In the first case, the defendant was sentenced to one year of corrective labor, while in the other the defendant was fined.

This brings the year-to-date number of judgments for racist propaganda to 11, with 16 people convicted total.

The Federal List of Extremist Materials was updated twice, on March 16 and 18, to include entries 785-808. The new entries include songs by the groups Kolovrat, Zyklon B, Bezumnie Usiliya and Psikheya, a diary by Joseph Goebbels, videos by the Russian All-National Union (RONS), and leaflets distributed by radical Islamist groups.

The Federal List of Extremist Organizations was also updated in March to include a religious group called "Noble Order of the Devil." The group had been deemed extremist by the High Court of Mordovia, a region east of Moscow, in December 2010; it is SOVA’s position that this ruling was improper. According to the Ministry of Justice’s website, the list now includes 21 organizations, not including groups classified as terrorist.

In Vladimir, the City Prosecutor’s Office suspended the activities of the Russian All-National Union (RONS), and requested that the Vladimir Regional Court classify the group as extremist.

Concerning popular opposition to racism, SOVA would like to note the annual, international "Stop Racism!" week, which passed from March 14 to 21 this year. The Youth Network Against Racism and Intolerance, International Youth Human Rights Movement, and Young Europe all participated. The week was organized as part of the European Week of Action, put together by UNITED for Intercultural Action.