Volume 8, Number 20
Friday, May 16, 2008

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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The charge is incitement of ethnic or religious hatred but Russian prosecutors act on the basis of the law against extremism that is only vaguely defined, allowing the government to punish its critics. The following six cases suggest that Russian authorities are stepping up hate crime prosecutions, perhaps in response to President Dmitry Medvedev’s emphasis on the importance of the law. However, human rights advocates also see the government determined to exploit the law to further stifle freedom of expression.

1. MOSCOW ART GALLERY DIRECTOR CHARGED. A Russian court has laid charges against the well-known art gallery director and human rights activist Yury Samodurov of the Sakharov Museum in Moscow. He is accused of inciting religious hatred with an exhibition titled "Forbidden Art" last year that satirized the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian military, London’s “Independent” reported from Moscow on May 14. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the exhibited works contain images that are denigrating and offensive to Christians. The trial, scheduled to open in July, is the latest stage of a confrontation sought by Orthodox groups and conservative politicians.

The charge of inciting religious hatred is part of Article 282 of the criminal code and an important element in the country’s controversial anti-extremism legislation. Lyudmila Alekseyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, told Interfax that the charges were based on "unthinkable stupidity and shamefulness, and are also a violation of rights and freedoms." She said she will approach Russian and international organizations to help Samodurov's defense. Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Russian authorities to stop the criminal prosecution of Samodurov. Holly Cartner, HRW’s Europe and Central Asia director, said: “Russian authorities have used anti-extremism legislation to silence political speech. Now they’re using it to stifle artistic expression and prosecute a prominent human rights defender at the same time. This puts a huge question mark over basic freedom of expression in Russia.”

The exhibition included several dozen works that had been barred from appearing at other exhibitions. “Some of the works were simply lewd, others parodied religion, for example substituting an Order of Lenin medal for the head of Christ on the cross,” “The Independent” wrote. “One work showed a Russian general raping a soldier, with the phrase ‘Glory to Russia’ as a caption. As a protest against creeping censorship, viewers had to peer through peepholes to see the art.”

Orthodox groups condemned the exhibit as a provocation by artists seeking publicity and intending to offend religious sensitivities. "It's difficult to call this art," the London daily quoted Father Alexander Volkov, a spokesperson for the Moscow Patriarchate, as saying. "It's nothing more than a provocation against a group of citizens, in this case Orthodox believers…. It's good that this has been carried to its conclusion, and it shows that the state has a respect for the [Orthodox] Church and for the believers."

Samodurov denied that the show was meant as a provocation. "To those who say it is, I say, 'Oh, God, you know it isn't so!’” he said. He added that the Sakharov Museum will have to close in September if it does not find money to pay its employees.

The case has its roots in a 2003 Sakharov Museum exhibition titled "Caution, Religion!" that showed a model of a church made out of vodka bottles and a picture of Christ against the background of a Coca-Cola advertisement. When a group of Orthodox radicals vandalized the exhibition shortly after its opening, it was not they who were convicted but the exhibit's organizers who were hit with a fine for inciting hatred.

Now Samodurov faces up to five years in prison if convicted on the new charges. The authorities are "bent on imprisoning me; I am absolutely sure that is their aim," the Associated Press quoted him as saying. "The principle of the exhibit was the new freedom of expression we thought we had." He said that the authorities had failed to shut down the museum when he was convicted and fined for the 2003 show. He said he feared that this time they would be successful.

HRW pointed out that in the event that a court finds Samodurov guilty on the current charges, he is more than likely to be imprisoned as a repeat offender. “Under a combination of Russia’s anti-extremist and nongovernmental organization (NGO) legislation, the Sakharov Center would be obligated within five days of the court ruling to issue a public statement distancing itself from him, and Samodurov will have to resign from the organization’s membership,” HRW argued. “Failure to do so could result in the center’s dissolution. In 2007, the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society was dissolved for failing to distance itself from its director, Stanislav Dmitrievski, who was convicted on charges of inciting hatred against an ethnic group in a flawed trial in 2006.”

“In recent years, the international community has been watching the gradual suffocation of Russia’s civil society,” Cartner said. “Now Russia’s partners must say, loud and clear, that it’s absolutely unacceptable to continue ignoring obvious harassment and persecution of independent thinkers. Who will be next?”

2. CHERKIZOV MARKET BOMBERS GET LIFE SENTENCES. The Moscow City Court handed down unusually stiff sentences to six far-right college students for their responsibility for the August 2006 bombing of the Cherkizov market, the deadliest attack on members of ethnic minorities in Russia. According to a May 15 report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the six received life in prison. Two additional defendants were sentenced to 20 and 13 years respectively, the latter for the murder of Armenian student Vigen Abramyanets. Earlier, a jury found the defendants guilty of terrorism, 14 murders (four of them children) and the attempted murder of the 61 people who were injured in the blast, along with responsibility for seven other explosions around the city. The defendants were members of the Spas club, which one of them headed—a combat skills club that trained an estimated 2,000 youths in Moscow.

"Vremya Novostey" reported that the defendants, upon hearing that they will spend the rest of their young lives in prison, waved symbols of the neo-Nazi group Slavic Union ("SS" in Russian) and "with a show of bravura" chatted with their supporters "of which there were many in the courtroom."

3. SIX NEO-NAZIS SENTENCED IN MOSCOW. Six neo-Nazis were sentenced to widely varying prison terms in connection with a series of attacks, including a murder, incitement of ethnic hatred, robbery, hooliganism, and membership in an extremist organization, according to a May 15 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center. The defendants received one 12 year sentence, two four year sentences, one five year sentence, and two suspended sentences. The court found them guilty of attacking a Chinese man on the Moscow metro in September 2006 while shouting racist slogans and stabbing a Krygyz victim to death the next month.

4. VANDALS OF KRASNOYARSK JEWISH CEMETERY FACE CHARGES OF ETHNIC HATRED. Three residents of Krasnoyarsk were put on trial on charges of having vandalized a Jewish cemetery, according to a May 13 report by the Jewish.ru web site. While in the past most cemetery vandals were charged simply with "hooliganism," the three defendants in Krasnoyarsk face the rarely applied charge of "damaging tombstones motivated by ethnic hatred." The three suspects allegedly vandalized the cemetery on the night of October 7, 2007 after getting drunk. One of the defendants may face confinement in a psychiatric institution in addition to the criminal charges he faces.

5. TWO CHARGED WITH HATE CRIME, MISTAKENLY ATTACKING FELLOW SLAV. Two residents of Borovichi, Russia (Novgorod Region) face charges of hooliganism, aggravated assault, and hate crimes after attacking a man with knives and hammers, according to a May 7 report by the Rosbalt news service. The men face up to ten years in prison if convicted. According to the indictment, on January 22, the two men attacked an ethnic Russian whom they thought was a member of an ethnic minority from the Caucasus. He was seriously injured.

6. WEB SITE CHARGED WITH ETHNIC HATRED. The Investigations Committee of the Russian Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal case over the publication of extremist materials on the Internet site Ufa Gubernskaya (www.ufabug.com), Interfax reported on May 14. The case was opened over the publication of excerpts from a book by Airat Dilmukhametov, a former leader of the unregistered Bashkir National Front. The prosecutors found the publication to contain "expressions calling for illegal extremist actions aimed at fanning hatred or feud based on ethnic origin and religious affiliation." The web site is accused of making public calls for extremism and fanning ethnic, racial, or religious discord, the Bashkortostan Prosecutor's Office reported.

ANTISEMITIC VIOLENCE IN TULA. Three neo-Nazis attacked two Jews in Tula, Russia, according to a May 12 report by the web site Jewish.ru. The attack took place the previous day near the Hasdei Heshama Jewish charity center, which in the early hours of May 9 was vandalized by unknown individuals who painted "Glory to Hitler," "Kikes to the oven," and "Russia for Russians," along with swastikas on the center's walls. The three attackers were detained by police summoned by the center's security guard. The two Jews attacked were employees of the charity center.

The Russian Jewish Congress (RJC) has expressed concern, Interfax reported on May 12. ”The demonstrative boldness of participants in such sorties, often guided by the feeling of impunity, calls for tough action toward national radicals," RJC said in a statement and expressed its dismay at the absence of proper reaction on the part of Tula law enforcement agencies. No criminal cases have been opened, RJC said, instead, the local police attempted to quash publicity. "Police were trying to prevent local journalists from filming the traces of vandalism as workers were putting fresh paint over the inscriptions," the RJC said.

CEMETERIES DESECRATED IN TWO RUSSIAN REGIONS. Over the last weekend, unidentified vandals have desecrated three Jewish graves at the Maryina Roshcha cemetery in Nizhniy Novgorod, Interfax reported on May 14, citing the Ministry of the Interior. Among the desecrated graves was Iuda Bershteyn’s, once the chief rabbi of Nizhniy Novgorod, Interfax said citing the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.

In a separate development, more than 100 graves of servicemen, Gypsies, and Armenians were desecrated or destroyed in Petrodvorets near St. Petersburg on May 13, Interfax reported.

GERMAN CELEBRITIES JOIN CAMPAIGN AGAINST NEO-NAZISM. Soccer star Michael Ballack is the latest German celebrity lending his voice to a new Internet-based campaign against neo-Nazism, the radio Deutsche Welle has reported. One of the campaign’s objectives is to stop the far-right from infiltrating sports' clubs. TV presenter Marietta Slomka and talk show host Maybrit Illner are among the high-profile Germans featured online. The interactive Internet platform was launched by the weekly “Die Zeit” on May 5. It contains extensive information about the subject, including news reports about right-wing extremism and a forum where people can seek advice and swap facts and links to advice centers and support groups. "We're aiming to create a nationwide forum where people who encounter far-right ideas can give each other advice," said “Die Zeit” chief editor Giovanni di Lorenzo.

Partners in the alliance include the German Olympic Sports Confederation, the German Soccer Federation, and the German Soccer League. Among media partners are the German broadcaster ZDF and online portals, schuelerVZ, studiVZ, and meinVZ. “The involvement of the sporting bodies reflects rising concern about far-right parties using the cover of leisure activities to spread their ideas among young people,” Deutsche Welle reported.

TWO CORRECTIONS

1. NO HITLER DOLLS FOR SALE IN KIEV. The story of Kiev supermarkets selling a Hitler doll started out as a bad prank and Russian TV turned it into an anti-Ukrainian propaganda ploy, according to a knowledgeable Ukrainian human rights activist. Reported originally in London’s “Daily Mail,” picked up by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency as well as by the BBC, and published in this newsletter two weeks ago, the story turned out to be erroneous. Though the doll exists, made in Taiwan, people who checked Kiev stores could not find one for sale, and editors of both the “Daily Mail” and the BBC took the story off their respective web sites.

2. U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONDEMNS RUSSIA FOR THREATENING GEORGIA. An item in this newsletter last week cited a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty report to the effect that the U.S. House of Representatives indefinitely postponed condemning Russia for threatening Georgia. The report, dated May 6, was wrong, based on a misunderstanding, the radio has acknowledged. According to the official record, on May 7 the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed House Resolution 1166 by a vote of 390 ayes. (There were only 23 nays.) The nonbinding resolution expressed “the sense of the House of Representatives regarding provocative and dangerous statements and actions taken by the Government of the Russian Federation that undermine the territorial integrity of the Republic of Georgia.” “Bigotry Monitor“ regrets citing the two erroneous reports.

* * * QUOTE OF THE WEEK, UKRAINE AS AN ISLAND OF FREEDOM * * * “Since the 2004 Orange Revolution ushered in a vigorous, sometimes chaotic democracy, Ukraine has become an island of freedom and tolerance in an ex-Soviet bloc still dominated by authoritarian regimes, and journalists, political activists, artists, and business professionals have flocked here,” the Associated Press reported from Kiev on May 9. “In Soviet times, a dissident wanting to live free had only the West to look to. Getting there was hard, the culture alien, the language foreign. Ukraine, however, is an easy visa-free destination for most, Russian is spoken and speech is free.”

STALIN’S APOLOGISTS GO INTO THE OFFENSIVE
Historians Steeped in the Stalin Era Attempt to Restart the Stalin Cult

To rewrite the past to suit the politics of the present has been an objective of dictatorships the world over. In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh of a new dynasty chiseled out the boasts of his predecessors on limestone steles and had masons etch in his own accomplishments. In modern times, Russian leaders have defined “the correct version of the past” and condemned “the falsifiers of history” who dared to disagree. With the emergence of a new Russian leadership that apparently seeks a balance between the siloviki (those with KGB backgrounds) and the so-called liberals, the heirs of the KGB have launched a campaign to whitewash most reprehensible parts of the Stalin era’s record.

1. FSB CALLS FOR CANCELING 1989 DENUNCIATION OF1939 STALIN-HITLER PACT. The Federal Security Service (known as the FSB, successor to the KGB) is working with Russian historians to exonerate the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 by selectively releasing classified documents as well as appealing to the Duma to overturn the denunciation of that pact by the Soviet Congress of Peoples' Deputies in 1989, Paul Goble wrote on May 13 in his blog “Window on Eurasia.” A former U.S. government specialist in nationalities of the Soviet Union, Goble has published some additional details of an April 22 roundtable discussion, titled "Problems of the Publication of Sources about the Great Fatherland War. Criticism of Attempts at the Falsification of History," hosted by the FSB. The meeting included archivists, historians, and representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church.

According to the portal newsarmenia cited by Goble, Colonel Sergei Ignatenko, the head of the FSB's Center for Public Affairs, revealed that the FSB wants to release any document it has "if this does not involve a state secret." The reason, Ignatenko said, is the increasing tendency by Russian and foreign historians, novelists, and filmmakers to "falsify" the history of the Second World War and the Soviet Union's role in it. "That which we see on movie screens today," he declared, "is to a great extent falsification in a pure form.” He added that “with rare exceptions,” there are no serious historical investigations of this subject. One reason for that is the efforts of "our Western opponents" who "distribute money" in order to denigrate Russia, its people, and its history.

Colonel Ignatenko said that when he asked Russian filmmakers why they were distorting the history of the war, they responded by saying that they were doing so "in order to increase ratings." They do not think, Ignatenko said, how harmful this is. He announced: "We beyond any doubt must be responsible for what we bring to the masses."

Goble then cited the statement that might have been the reason for calling the meeting: Oleg Rzheshevskiy, a senior scholar at the Academy of Sciences Institute of General History and the president of the Russian Association of Historians of the Second World War, called for the Russian parliament to overturn the 1989 condemnation of the so-called "secret protocol" of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Rzheshevskiy said: "When this protocol was condemned, did anyone think about the fact that this agreement was concluded in the interests of [Russian] security?" He contended that circumstances gave the USSR no other way out and he declared, "if the parliament of Russia will reverse this decision, that step alone will permit a more effective struggle with the falsifiers of history."

2. PAVLOVA: REVERSION TO STALINIST LIES WILL TURN PEOPLE TO THE TRUTH. To put Rzheshevskiy's remarks in a historical context, Goble cited an essay, posted on the Grani.ru portal, by Moscow historian and commentator Irina Pavlova who participated in the FSB roundtable discussion. She argued that Rzheshevskiy carried out a long-awaited "revenge" of Soviet-era historians on those who spoke the truth about Stalin in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Pavlova predicted that in the current political climate, Rzheshevskiy and his comrades think that "victory will be theirs." These historians hold "all the posts in Russian historical science and they also control the preparation of new [professional] cadres." She recalled the programmatic document adopted at the time of a 1997 meeting of the association of historians that Rzheshevskiy heads. They argued then that "history is a political science" and that in writing it, historians must "always think about the interests of their state and be concerned about the healthy thinking of the [rising] generations."

In her current article, Pavlova emphasized that what is taking place in post-Soviet historical scholarship is linked to political processes in the country. She identified those processes as aimed at defeating efforts to tell the truth about the past. Nevertheless, Pavlova concluded on a surprisingly positive note. The current leaders, she wrote, “can give directions and the historians who serve them can write about the Second World War however they like. They can lie as much as they want, praising Stalin and his policies to the skies, and slandering again as much as possible those" who disagree. "But the truth about the war, which at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s began to emerge out from under the rubble, can't be pushed back. It lives. And the greater the effort to impose the pro-Stalinist conception on society, the more people will be drawn [not to it but] to the truth."

3. BELARUS KGB PRESSURES ORTHODOX NOT TO VENERATE SOVIET-ERA MARTYRS. The KGB effort to recapture its control over history transcends borders. The Belarus secret police, still called KGB, discourages the commemoration of Orthodox Christians killed for their faith by the Soviet Union, Forum 18 News Service reported on May 12. The KGB has sought to have icons of the New Martyrs, as they are known by the Orthodox Church, removed from Grodno Cathedral.

Russian Orthodox Deacon Andrei Kurayev told Forum 18 that "Some comrades from the local KGB asked local clergy why they were inciting the people in such a way." While there was no official order to remove the icons--"it was on the level of a chat"--Kurayev reported that Bishop Artemi (Kishchenko) of Grodno and Volkovysk refused to take them down. "He told the KGB that he couldn't rewrite history."

The news service that specializes in religion in countries of the former Soviet Union has also learned from a local Orthodox source that KGB officers often monitor visitors to Kuropaty, where mass graves of Stalinist repression victims probably include Orthodox martyrs. The act of going there--even to light candles--is "fraught with tension" with the current Belarusian regime, according to the source. An Orthodox chapel once planned for the site has never been built.

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