Volume 9, Number 43
November 13, 2009
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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"We have the same values that you in the West have," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told “Der Spiegel” in an interview conducted on November 3, shortly before he left for Berlin to attend the 20th anniversary celebrations of the fall of the wall. “I can't see any great difference as regards freedom and human rights, primarily if one draws comparisons with new members of the European Union: they are by no means any better off than us in terms of political culture and economic development, but they are small and they are constantly saying how many threats they are having to handle. They only differ from Russia in the sense that we are big, very big, and we have nuclear weapons. It's simply wrong to say, there's a united Europe here where democracy is a fact and over there there's gloomy, uneducated Russia, which can't yet be let into Europe."
However, none of the following three news items from a typical week in Russia is likely to have taken place in a member country of the European Union.
1. MAN CONFESSES TO KILLING TWO HUMAN RIGHTS WORKERS IN MOSCOW. A suspect in the January 19 killing in Central Moscow of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and “Novaya Gazeta” reporter Anastasia Baburova has confessed and insisted that he acted alone, his lawyer said on November 7. A day earlier, Moscow’s Basmanny District Court approved the arrest of Nikita Tikhonov, 29, and another suspect, Yevgenia Khasis, 24, in connection with the killings.
However, basic data in the case are contradictory, and suspicions are mounting that the authorities are pursuing political objectives rather than identifying the killer and his motives.
Tikhonov’s lawyer Yevgeny Skripelev told Ekho Moskvy radio that Tikhonov had acted alone, had been motivated by personal animosity, and was not linked to any ultranationalist groups. “There were no ideological differences behind [the murder], just a personal grudge,” Skripelev said.
But the Sova Center for Information and Analysis pointed out that Markelov, 34, who defended clients against ultranationalists, had accused Tikhonov of involvement in the murder of antifascist activist Alexander Ryukhin, in Moscow in 2006. Markelov represented Ryukhin’s mother in court. “Several neo-Nazi attackers were convicted in a 2007 trial, but Tikhonov, who was among the suspects, escaped arrest and went into hiding,” noted “The Moscow Times.” Markelov also charged then that police did not take the Ryukhin case seriously because of their bias against antifascists and sympathy with ultranationalist gangs used as enforcers in corruption schemes.
Federal Security Service director Alexander Bortnikov said that the two suspects were part of a criminal group that carried out a racially motivated murder in September and was planning a high-profile killing. He said law enforcement officers had tied the purported neo-Nazi gang to an ethnic hate killing in September, seized a large cache of firearms, and disrupted plans for another high-profile murder. Bortnikov described the gang as a "radical nationalist group." The authorities had earlier identified Tikhonov as a member of United Brigade 88, an extreme right-wing group.
"I would be careful about saying that this crime has been solved," “The Washington Post” quoted Sergei Sokolov, deputy editor of “Novaya Gazeta,” the opposition newspaper where Baburova worked and that Markelov counted among his clients. "Our law enforcement bodies often hurry to accuse this person or that person, but in practice, they're often wrong." “The Post” also pointed out that in February, a jury acquitted three men charged with killing another “Novaya Gazeta” journalist, award-winning investigating reporter and Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya, after the defense argued that they had been framed by police eager to close a politically sensitive case.
According to the Russian media, investigators are trying to link the suspects to the shooting death of Rasul Khalilov, a young Caucasus native killed as he was leaving his apartment building to attend a trial where he and several other young men were accused of belonging to a group called the Black Hawks, which allegedly carried out attacks on ultranationalists.
Investigative Committee sources told “Kommersant” that Tikhonov would be sent for a psychiatric evaluation, raising the possibility that he may be declared mentally disturbed.
"Tikhonov looks like a quite credible suspect," said Galina Kozhevnikova, deputy director of the Sova Center. But, she added, the murders--in which the masked killer fired point-blank on a crowded sidewalk and escaped unimpeded into the metro--seemed unusually polished for neo-Nazis. "There aren't professional killers among these ultra-rightists," she said. "This killing shows the hallmarks of experience in military action."
"I doubt the man I worked with is the killer," Alexander Belov, leader of the violent nationalist Movement Against Illegal Migration, told the Associated Press (AP). “I knew him as a correct, upstanding, and talented journalist."
“Russia has seen a string of contract-style killings of human rights workers and journalists in recent years,” the AP noted. “Few of the killings are ever solved. In the rare case when people suspected of taking part in a killing are brought to trial, the mastermind is rarely identified.”
2. MOSCOW CITY HALL SEEKS TO EVICT TWO HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS. City Hall has asked the Moscow Arbitration Court to evict two prominent human rights groups that have criticized the Kremlin from municipally owned premises, “The Moscow Times” reported on November 9. City Hall’s cultural heritage department has filed lawsuits against the Moscow Helsinki Group and Goryachaya Linia, the Moscow branch of the For Human Rights group, said Lev Ponomaryov, national leader of For Human Rights.
City Hall refused to extend its lease contract with Goryachaya Linia, which expired on May 19, under what Ponomaryov described as the false pretext that the group had illegally refurbished its office. Ponomaryov said that he and Alexeyeva have appealed to the federal and Moscow ombudsmen, as well as the Kremlin’s human rights council, for help to block eviction.
3. ATTACKED BY NATIONALISTS, ANTIFASCISTS CHARGED WITH DISORDERLY CONDUCT. Four antifascist activists were detained by the police after being beaten by nationalists at a “Russian March” rally in St. Petersburg on People’s Unity Day, established by the Kremlin as a national holiday in 2005, “The St. Petersburg Times” reported. They were charged with disorderly conduct and were kept overnight at a police precinct before being taken to court and released at 2 p.m. the next day.
Six activists had unfurled a banner reading “Trash Nationalism” and chanted an antifascist slogan at a nationalist rally at the remote Polyustrovsky Park when they were attacked by the nationalists. “The St. Petersburg Times” cited a video showing the antifascist protest disrupted by a young man wearing a camouflage jacket who ran at the protesters, kicking and punching one of them. Additional nationalist marchers joined the beating, which the police stopped. The antifascist protest lasted about one minute.
“There were many of them; about five jumped on me alone,” an antifascist activist told “The Times.” “They surrounded us, and the first one jumped on and kicked our comrade, causing him to fall down, and the rest followed suit.” The police detained four antifascist activists and one attacker. The detainees were brought to Police Precinct 66, where they were charged with disorderly conduct. “We were accused of using profane language,” the antifascist activist said. “I don’t know which of the words we used was the most profane—we were chanting ‘The fascists kill people, and the authorities cover it up.’” But, she continued, “the slogan we were chanting came true because the fascists jumped on us, and the authorities arrested us—even though we were standing there peacefully without going for anybody. We simply came and expressed our opinion about the gathering.”
Organized by the Slavic Union, the “Russian March” drew about 250 activists from different nationalist groups, including extreme ones. Formed in 1999, the Slavic Union calls itself “national-socialist,” abbreviates its name to “SS,” and uses a swastika-like symbol as its emblem.
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NEO-NAZIS TO BE TRIED FOR KILLING CHINESE MAN. Three neo-Nazis in Chelyabinsk face trial, accused of killing a Chinese man while videotaping the crime, according to a November 3 Itar-Tass report. Members of a gang called "Wild Ones" allegedly beat the victim and then stabbed him 35 times in September 2008. The video was later posted on the web. The three suspects, all in their mid-20s, face charges of murder motivated by ethnic hatred.
POSSIBLE RACIST ATTACK COINCIDED WITH NATIONALIST RALLY. Three youths attacked a Korean man, 37, in Nizhny Novgorod on November 4, the official National Unity Day when far-right rallies took place there and in other cities, according to a November 6 report by the Sova Center for Information and Analysis. The victim was treated for his injuries and reported the attack to police. To date, there has been no arrest in connection with the crime.
* * * QUOTE OF THE WEEK, RUSSIA’S HOLLOW PLEA FOR EXEMPTION * * * “During a recent mission by representatives of the Committee to Protect Journalists to urge the end of impunity in the killing of journalists in Russia, we were struck by Moscow investigators and prosecutors using the familiar excuses: ‘Give us time,’ they told us. ‘Russia is where the United States was in the days of the Wild West,’” wrote committee representatives Kati Marton and Nina Ognianova in an article on “The New York Times” op-ed page dated November 10. “But a great nation claiming equal status with other great nations cannot plead exemption when it comes to press freedom and human rights. Russia cannot have it both ways.”
SINCE THE WALL CAME DOWN 20 YEARS AGO
Celebrations Go on—but Not Everyone Is Dancing
In Berlin on November 9, there was dancing on the streets. World leaders attending the celebrations praised the people of Berlin for bringing down the hated wall and the despised East German state, rightly called the bastard offspring of Adolf Hitler and Yosif Stalin. Even the declassification of documents recording the fears of German reunification among British and French leaders 20 years ago did not dampen the enthusiasm, though the appearance of large black swastikas daubed on the new Dresden synagogue’s community center did cause some shivers. By now, the calendar’s strange coincidence of Kristallnacht and the fall of the wall no longer inspires notable commentaries. "The memory of the horrible events of the 9th of November, 1938, no less than the memory of the 9th of November,1989 teach us unequivocally that walls--whether real or in the minds and hearts of the people--solve no problems," said Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of the Catholic German Bishops Conference, at an ecumenical service in Berlin. (If you read the statement twice, it is clear that the comparison is lame and the conclusion is weak.) In Moscow, the focus has been on the unpleasant fact that the past 20 years have not advanced Russia’s position in the world. Nevertheless, prior to his arrival for the celebrations in Berlin, President Dmitry Medvedev tactfully welcomed the tearing down of the wall that stood as “a symbol of the division of the continent.”
1. THATCHER, MITTERRAND FEARFUL OF GERMAN REUNIFICATION. "While USA and, surprisingly, the Soviet Union, largely welcomed the moment of redemption and euphoria that ushered in the end of a black century, Germany's non-superpower neighbors were prey to old fears,“ Deutsche Welle said on November 8, commenting on recently declassified archives that reveal that British and French leaders feared a reunified Germany while publicly celebrating the victory of democracy over communism. "It is still an uncomfortable thought that something that Germans were so happy about, and that unified Europe, could have been rejected by our closest partners,“ Professor Paul Nolte, who teaches history at the Free University in Berlin, told Deutsche Welle, Germany’s equivalent of Britain’s BBC. "We ask ourselves, 'How could anyone have been against it?'" Nolte was especially surprised by the skepticism of French President Francois Mitterrand about German reunification. "That's the biggest revelation from my point of view," Nolte said.
For instance, in a telegram dated March 13, 1990, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is quoted by the French ambassador in London describing German Chancellor Helmut Kohl as being "capable of anything. He has become a different man. He does not know who he is any more. He sees himself as the master and is starting to act like it." The documents also reveal that Thatcher told Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev: "Britain and Western Europe are not interested in the unification of Germany. The words written in the NATO communiqué may sound different, but disregard them. We do not want the unification of Germany."
2. JEWS WARN: UNIFICATION JOY SHOULDN’T OVERSHADOW KRISTALLNACHT. A lingering disquiet about the rise of reunified Germany was not confined to the private thoughts of West European leaders. While Berlin played host to massive celebrations to mark 20 years of unification, the Central Council of Jews in Germany urged the nation not to forget November 9, 1938, Deutsche Welle reported on November 10. Council President Charlotte Knoblauch said the joy experienced on the anniversary of the fall of the wall had "overshadowed" the remembrance of Kristallnacht, known as the Night of Broken Glass, when Jewish citizens and their property became the targets of mass-scale attacks across Germany and Austria.
Knoblauch observed that although it was "natural“ and “right" for Germany to focus on the events of two decades ago, it was important to mark both occasions appropriately in the future. The desecration of a synagogue in Dresden a day before the reunification celebrations demonstrated that antisemitism and public incitement constituted "a serious problem," she said. Nazi thinking, she added, "has seeped into all areas of society" and 550 antisemitic crimes had been recorded in Germany in the first half of this year. While the night of November 9, 1989, signaled the opening of the gates to freedom for East Germans, Knoblauch said, the same night 51 years earlier had paved the way to Auschwitz. She concluded: Germany must show that it "is committed to the basic democratic values--with an awareness of the darkest chapter in its history."
Kristallnacht commemorations were held across Germany and the grim facts repeated: Nazi mobs murdered some 90 Jews and arrested as many as 30,000 Jews who were transported to concentration camps. Attending a 20-year anniversary service in Berlin, German President Horst Koehler urged the congregation not to forget 1938. The two historic dates were connected, he said, and Germany survived its postwar division "because we have learned the necessary lessons from our history between 1933 and 1945."
3. DISAPPOINTMENT IN MOSCOW. "We believed that, as a result of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a somewhat different place would be set for Russia in Europe,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the German newsweekly “Der Spiegel” in an interview published in the issue commemorating the 20th anniversary. “We hoped that the disappearance of the Warsaw Treaty would entail a different degree of Russia's integration with pan-European space. But what have we got as a result? NATO is still, after all, a bloc that has its missiles targeted at Russian territory, it's a military bloc."
Medvedev seemed to refer to a long-standing Russian complaint that in 1990, then-Secretary of State James Baker had promised Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not move “one inch eastward” as a precondition for Moscow’s support of German reunification. Baker has repeatedly denied having made such a pledge, most recently in Moscow earlier this year when he told reporters that the Soviets had in fact agreed to a treaty that expanded NATO to include all of East Germany.
Sergei Markov, a State Duma deputy of the ruling United Russia party, went a step farther in his rhetoric. He said that NATO’s expansion had erected a new wall further east: “We tore down the Berlin Wall but now the West has constructed a new one.”
A thoughtful member of the opposition delivered a similar lamentation. In the past 20 years, “Europe and Asia have expanded and become stronger, while Russia has declined and continues to lag behind,” wrote in “The Moscow Times” Vladimir Ryzhkov, former independent member of the State Duma who is now affiliated with “The Other Russia” movement. From the moment that the Cold War ended, the West expanded and strengthened its two principal economic, political, and security structures--NATO and the European Union (EU), Ryzhkov argued. “NATO experienced three waves of expansion, adding 12 new states and bringing its total number of members up to 28,” he continued. “The EU also expanded three times, bringing its number of member states to 27 with a combined population of almost 500 million. The number of countries aspiring to join both organizations also increased.”
“The Moscow Times” dated November 10 summed it up: “On the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Moscow is sending a mixed message to the West by being overtly positive about the demise of the Iron Curtain, which led to the Soviet breakup, while at the same time harboring resentment about its current position in Europe.”
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