Volume 10, Number 2
January 15, 2010
BIGOTRY MONITOR
A Weekly Human Rights Newsletter on Antisemitism, Xenophobia, and Religious Persecution in the Former Communist World and Western Europe
EDITOR: CHARLES FENYVESI
(News and Editorial Policy within the sole discretion of the editor)
Published by UCSJ: Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union
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RUSSIA’S RIOT POLICE ‘OMON’ TASKED TO ERADICATE ALL DISSENT. In a January 12 editorial, the prestigious daily “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” condemned the brutal police suppression of the opposition’s December 31 rally on Moscow’s Triumfalnaya Square in defense of freedom of expression, as it is enshrined in Article 31 of the Constitution. “Loosing the police on harmless protesters, the powers-that-be demonstrated their readiness to eradicate all and any dissent,” the Moscow newspaper wrote. “They also demonstrated an absolute lack of their own ideological security. Where were the numerous and vociferous Young Russia and Nashi [Ours] activists? The impression is that dispersal of rallies and demonstrations is [the riot police] OMON's only function. The more brutal the Russian police, the less credible the authorities' slogans concerning so-called political liberalization.”
The editorial concluded: “As matters stand, experts alone perceive liberalization in presidential amendments to the acting legislation. In real life, however, people encounter the same old OMON units--the armed detachment of pro-Putin conservative majority.”
CRIMINAL CASE OPENED AGAINST KRASNODAR HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST. A criminal case has been opened against human rights activist Anastasia Denisova in Krasnodar, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on January 13. Her apartment was searched earlier by financial-crimes police and her laptop, hard drive, and a flash card were seized. She is charged with "copyright infringement" for the alleged use of unlicensed computer software. If found guilty, she could face up to six years in jail.
In October, police searched the Krasnodar offices of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Etnika, which she heads. Etnika deals with racial discrimination cases. Denisova has linked her problems with the police to her human rights activity which has included participation in Russian-Georgian civil dialogue between NGOs.
ARSONISTS TARGET JEHOVAH’S WITNESS PRAYER HALL AND BAPTIST CHURCH. Police in Volzhsky (Volgograd Region) have detained a group of suspects in connection with the firebombings of a Baptist church and a Jehovah's Witnesses' Kingdom Hall, according to a January 12 report by the web site Kavkavsky Uzel that covers events in the northern Caucasus. In both cases, the arsonists threw Molotov cocktails through the windows but quick reactions from firefighters helped to minimize the damage. Confusingly, initial reports suggested that the suspects belong to both the far-right hate group the Movement Against Illegal Immigration and an anti-fascist group. Police reportedly confiscated extremist literature and weapons from the suspects. Nevertheless, according to the Sova Center for Information and Analysis, they so far face no hate crimes charges--instead they were charged solely with malicious property damage.
A January 13 article in the local supplement to the national daily "Argumenty i Fakty" quoted Jehovah's Witness leader Valery Volf as saying: "I don't think that what happened in Volzhsky was in any way out of the ordinary. In our country, there are many institutions that form public opinion, including the media, that have created a negative attitude towards religious faiths that are supposedly non-traditional for Russia."
In another development, on December 29, 2009 an anti-extremism unit of the MVD in the Republic of Adygeya launched an investigation into a local Jehovah's Witness congregation, issuing 11 warnings to the congregation's leaders, accusing them of "extremism." Since a court in Taganrog classified Jehovah's Witness as an extremist organization last year, a growing crackdown on that faith has taken place in several Russian regions. Anti-extremism laws, said to be intended to counter increasing neo-Nazi violence and insurgents in the Caucasus, has increasingly been abused by federal and local authorities to persecute peaceful political opposition members and minority religious faiths.
On January 15, Forum 18 News Service reported that though 34 Jehovah's Witness publications described as extremist have not as yet been added to the Federal List of Extremist Materials, public prosecutors in several Russian regions have begun issuing extremism warnings to Jehovah's Witness communities.
MASKED MEN ROB APARTMENT RENTED TO UZBEK MIGRANTS. Masked men burst into a St. Petersburg apartment rented to Uzbek migrant workers and beat, stabbed, and robbed them, according to the local supplement to the national daily "Komsomolskaya Pravda" dated January 9. Police sources told the newspaper that the attack was likely either the work of neo-Nazis or criminals from the Uzbek diaspora.
The five victims, all of whom are illegal migrants, were reluctant to report the attack to the police who heard about it from witnesses. This reluctance is typical of many victims of hate crimes in Russia who lack legal status. But it is not surprising, considering that Migration Service officials are currently deciding whether to allow the Uzbeks to stay in the country long enough to testify in a possible trial if and when suspects are apprehended—or to deport them immediately.
PROSECUTORS CHARGE NEO-NAZI GANG WITH EXTREMISM. Prosecutors in Tver completed their investigation of a neo-Nazi gang and sent charging documents to a court, according to a January 11 item by the RIA-Novosti news service. Five members of the "Nordic Front" face extremism charges after being accused of pasting neo-Nazi leaflets and painting graffiti on buildings around the city. All the suspects are minors from prosperous families, an increasingly common phenomenon in the Russian neo-Nazi movement.
KRASNOYARSK COURT REDUCES SENTENCE FOR FAR-RIGHT ACTIVIST. A court in Krasnoyarsk reduced the sentence of a far-right activist convicted of a hate crime, according to a January 11 report by the Sova Center for Information and Analysis. Leonid Ikonnikov, a member of the local branch of the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, was convicted of "hooliganism" and a hate crime after he assaulted a non-Russian man in March 2007. The federal district court of the central district of Krasnoyarsk reduced Ikonnikov's sentence to three months. The reasons are not disclosed.
NEW LAW TO OFFER PRIVATELY EMPLOYED MIGRANTS LEGAL STATUS. Millions of illegal migrants working in private households across Russia will get a chance to legalize their employment under a new law regulating the legal status of foreign guest workers, “The Moscow Times” reported on January 12. The bill, proposed by the Federal Migration Service and submitted to the State Duma last week, will allow private employers to obtain one-month work permits for foreign workers at a charge of 1,000 rubles ($34). The permits may be prolonged on a monthly basis. Violations will be punishable by fines of up to 5,000 rubles ($150). The initiative has angered the Federation of Independent Trade Unions that says it will encourage more foreign workers to take away jobs from Russians.
The legislation is described by its sponsors as aimed at regulating migrant workers illegally employed in apartments or dachas. Under the present law, the number of migrant workers is regulated by government quotas calculated annually on requests from businesses. Private individuals employing migrants do not figure in the current law.
In 2009, more than 1.32 million migrant workers were registered in Russia, according to the Federal Migration Service. There is no official data on migrants employed by private households but officials estimate the number from 3 to 4 million. The number of foreign migrants in Russia may total 7 million, according to some estimates. Ukrainian citizens account for a majority, followed by Tajiks and Uzbeks, migration officials said. While many migrants enter Russia legally and are given permission to work for 90 days, they often end up illegally employed because their employers are reluctant to sign contracts with them to avoid paying taxes.
According to human rights groups, life can be particularly hard for migrants working for private employers who often refuse to pay their wages and treat them cruelly. “Now they will be granted their rights and will not be kicked out into the street,” immigration officials said. Such an improvement and the willingness of private employers—or migrants--to pay $34 a month per a migrant employee remain to be seen. Enforcement of the new law raises yet another series of questions.
RUSSIAN BLOGGER ACQUITTED OF EXTREMISM CHARGES. In Kemerovo, a criminal case against Russian blogger Dmitry Solovyov, accused of inciting hatred in his blog entries, was closed due to a lack of evidence, Radio Free Europe ( RFE/RL) reported on January 11, the day he received a letter informing him of the court’s decision reached on December 31. Two groups of “expert linguists” said they found no evidence of extremism in five LiveJournal posts by Solovyov. His case was in the courts for 18 months. He was charged under Article 282 of the Criminal Code for "inciting hatred and humiliating the human dignity of individual social groups" for his critical accounts of police and the Federal Security Service (FBS), KGB’s heir. He could have been punished for up to two years in prison, and his acquittal is a rare judicial victory for a critic of two powerful institutions.
JEWISH GROUPS OPPOSE HONORING WWII ERA COSSACK ATAMAN. Jewish organizations in Chernigorov, Ukraine have protested local attempts to memorialize Ivan Galaka, a Cossack leader during Ukraine's brief period of independence who fought against the Red Army and reportedly massacred Jews. According to a January 7 report by the AEN news agency, local branches of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists and the extremist group Patriots of Ukraine have published articles in the newspaper "Prosvita" praising Galaka as a hero. On the other hand, the local Jewish community published a book by Anatoly Zhaglovsky titled "Galakovshchina: Myths and Realities" that detailed atrocities committed by Galaka's troops. These and other efforts, stifled the nascent movement to honor Galaka in Chernigorov, according to the report,
The subject of the Ukrainian independence movement during and after the two world wars is a painful and complex topic, as many Ukrainians engaged in armed resistance to Soviet oppression and Soviet propaganda (along with the current Russian government) characterized all resistance fighters as war criminals. On the other hand, some Ukrainian nationalists deny or minimize the extent to which some Ukrainian resistance groups and outright collaborators massacred Jews and Poles.
EUROPE’S COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF ROMA IN BULGARIAN POLICE BRUTALITY CASE. On January 7, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Bulgarian police had engaged in inhuman and degrading treatment of three Bulgarian nationals of Roma origin during their arrest and detention in police custody. The case, Sashov v. Bulgaria, was filed in 2003 and charged police brutality during the arrest of the three men in 2001 and of the failure of the state authorities to institute a proper investigation into their allegations of ill-treatment. During the course of the arrest, police are said to have fired shots at the men, beat them severely, and put two of them in the trunk of a car in order to take them to a police station. They were also subjected to verbal abuse citing their Roma ethnicity.
In its ruling, the court found that the use of force by the police against the applicants was extensive and disproportionate, and the nature and intensity of the suffering amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment. The court found that the state violated the law in both substance and procedure and awarded each applicant 3,000 euros ($4,370) for non-pecuniary damages and 4,500 euros ($6,554) for costs.
This is the sixth complaint against Bulgaria that the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and its partners won on behalf of Romani applicants before the Strasbourg-based European court. Robert Kushen, ERRC’s managing director, welcomed the decision “as a strong message that police brutality has no place in today’s Europe. Unfortunately, Roma continue to suffer abuse at the hands of police in many countries in Europe, and national justice systems do not always deliver justice for Roma victims.”
* * * QUOTE OF THE WEEK, HOW RUSSIANS UNDERSTAND ALL BUT LACK POWER * * * In an article titled “Tested by Many Foes, Passion of a Russian Dissident Endures,” “The New York Times” of January 12 quoted Lyudmila Alexeyeva, now in her 43rd year of provoking official Moscow, as saying that the Russian people are passive because they are poor but “understand everything. They just have no power to act. They have no power to even think about these issues [the democratic rollbacks of the Putin period], to analyze them, never mind being active."
MIGRANTS AND MAFIOSI, LOCALS AND POLICE CLASH IN CALABRIA
Working and Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Remain Inhuman
Over the weekend, Italian police bused some 1,300 Africans, mainly seasonal agricultural workers, out of the small Calabrian town of Rosarno in order to end three days of rioting that featured road blocks and drive-by shootings targeting the Africans, news agencies reported on January 11. In an interview with the daily “L’Avvenire,” senior public prosecutor Alberto Cisterna of the National Anti-Mafia Squad said: “There’s no doubt but that men from the [Calabrian Mafia] ‘Ndrangheta shot at the immigrants, just to remind everyone that they control the territory.”
The unrest in Rosarno began on January 7 when two Africans were injured by shots from an air rifle. Reports of the shootings prompted the migrants, who came mainly from Burkino Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, and Sudan, to take to the streets of Rosarno. They staged a protest, overturned and set fire to a number of cars and trash containers, damaged private property, and clashed with police. The riot left 66 injured. Enraged locals armed with iron bars and heavy sticks set up impromptu road blocks. Three other Africans were shot and injured while others were chased and beaten. Police also reported that one Rosarno resident was questioned after trying to run over an African farm worker with an earth mover, while another local allegedly tried to run down an immigrant with his car.
BBC described the African migrants as a semi-nomadic workforce moving from tomato harvesting in Campania to the wine harvest in Sicily, then to olive picking in Puglia before moving to Calabria for the orange crop in the late autumn. Work conditions in Calabria are often “wretched,” BBC said. In Rosarno, as in many other parts of Italy, the migrants live in abandoned buildings, in often squalid conditions. Public Prosecutor Cisterna blames the ‘Ndrangheta for the violent local response to the migrant workers, saying: “When the local people felt threatened, they turned to the Mafiosi who then had to step in so as not to lose face… They sent out a little ‘platoon’ of young killers . . . just to frighten the Africans.” Ironically, many if not all of the workers intimidated by the ‘Ndrangheta may well have been originally hired by the ‘Ndrangheta, which controls much of Calabria's fruit farming. Rosarno is said to be a stronghold of the ‘Ndrangheta, which some see as Italy’s most powerful criminal organization. The town is administered by a government-appointed prefect, given that the local ruling council was dissolved in December 2008 after it was found to be Mafia-infiltrated.
On January 10, Pope Benedict XVI appeared to make reference to the Rosarno riots when he said that violence is never the solution, adding: “Every migrant is a human being, with a different culture, religion, and history but he/she is still someone who merits respect and who has rights and responsibilities.”
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni unleashed a storm of criticism from the leftist opposition by suggesting that the violence was the result of not addressing the issue of illegal workers in the country. "There's a difficult situation in Rosarno, like in other places, because for years illegal immigration--which feeds criminal activities--has been tolerated and nothing effective has ever been done about it," he said. Opposition leader Pierluigi Bersani responded: "Maroni is passing the buck ... We have to go to the root of the problem: mafia, exploitation, xenophobia, and racism."
Recent research by Medecins sans Frontieres showed that 90% of migrant workers in Calabria had no work contract, although they were legally staying in Italy, and that seasonal workers are often exploited, receiving very low pay. UK’s “Guardian” quoted Father Ennio Stamile of the Roman Catholic charity Caritas to the effect that fruit-pickers receive the equivalent of $36 dollars for a day that may stretch to 16 working hours. "They have to send money to their countries to maintain their families and also live here,” Stamile said. “Not much is left for them. The economic crisis has exacerbated their situation."
The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) expressed its “serious concern.” While condemning the violence, ENAR finds that the events in Calabria reveal the consequences of long-standing xenophobic and anti-immigrant discourse and policies by the Italian government as well as by mainstream political parties. The emergence of an anti-immigrant climate in Italy has fueled prejudice and tensions between migrants and the local population, ENAR added, hindering integration. (ENAR describes itself as “a network of NGOs working to combat racism in all European Union member states and represents more than 600 NGOs across the EU.”)
The emergency is not the presence of undocumented migrants as the Minister of the Interior and leader of right-wing Lega Nord Roberto Maroni believes, ENAR maintains but “the widespread criminal economy that exploits immigrants and xenophobic legislation that forces them in a state of permanent precariousness and absence of rights.” ENAR called on the government to ensure that racist and xenophobic acts are not tolerated and that the fundamental rights of migrants are respected.
A Rosarno-type riot could erupt in most of the 27 member countries of the EU. For years, there have been calls for a common European approach to illegal immigration that takes into account the needs of the migrants from the south as well as the countries that accept them, in addition to the responsibilities of the host governments to ensure that every migrant enjoys the basic human rights. The far more destructive riots in Paris in 2005 failed to prompt EU-wide action or local measures to substantially improve the lot of migrants. Nevertheless, every year tens of thousands of Africans continue to risk their lives in attempting to reach Italy or Spain or Malta in rickety boats that often sink in squalls. There is no strong European leader to confront the crisis that festers without any remedy in sight.
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