Union of Councils for Soviet Jews: Bigotry Monitor: Volume 8, Number 19

News

Bigotry Monitor: Volume 8, Number 19

(May 9, 2008)

Volume 8, Number 19
Friday, May 9, 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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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGES BELARUS TO RELEASE AILING U.S. NATIONAL. In an announcement dated May 7, Amnesty International called on Belarus authorities to release U.S. national Emanuel Zeltser and to ensure that he receives immediately the medication his doctor prescribed and his lawyer brought to the detention facility. Zeltser was detained upon his arrival in Belarus on March 12. He is held in a state security services detention facility in the capital Minsk where, according to his lawyer, he has been interrogated and beaten, denied the medicine he needs urgently to treat his Type 2 diabetes and a severe form of arthritis.

On March 21, Zeltser was charged with "use of forged documents." The U.S. embassy in Minsk has been allowed to visit him only twice, on March 27 and April 25. After the second visit, U.S. Consul Caroline Savage reported that Zeltser’s health was failing, had lost weight, was very weak, had difficulty walking and talking, and had been beaten while in custody.

Amnesty International also quoted a letter from his doctor to the Prosecutor General to the effect that without access to his medication Zeltser may suffer "excruciating debilitating pain" and risk irreversible multiple internal organ damage. Zeltser’s lawyer delivered the medication to the detention facility but, according to his family, the authorities are withholding it.

SUSPECTED NEO-NAZI DOUBLE MURDER IN MOSCOW. Three young men with short hair stabbed an Uzbek couple to death in Moscow, according to a May 7 report by the news web site Gazeta.ru. The murders took place late at night on May 6 on Konstantinov Street. The attackers struck, then fled to a nearby metro station. Police are investigating the killings as ordinary murders rather than hate crimes.

According to Interfax, the man, 47, was found dead and the woman, 41, died on the way to the hospital. Both had worked as street cleaners. Eyewitnesses say that the attackers were young and Slavic looking.

NEO-NAZI ATTACKS RESULT IN HIGH HATE CRIME FIGURES FOR APRIL. There were at least 24 racist and neo-Nazi assaults in the month of April in Russia, leaving six people dead and 38 injured, Sova Information-Analytical Center reported. The numbers do not include the victims of the April 5 mass scuffle in the Tver Region because Sova is unsure of the nationalist motivation of the participants. In addition to Moscow, the neo-Nazi attacks took place in Vladivostok, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, St. Petersburg, Penza, Ryazan, and Stavropol.

Sova called attention to a new development that began in March: Far-right web sites circulate a list of chief justices, including their home addresses and personal information. The list has expanded to include personal data on high-ranking procuracy officials, Ministry of Interior employees, as well as public figures and professionals engaged in countering xenophobia. A number of far-right web sites post the web-link to the list, accompanied by direct threats of violence and even murder.

GIRL, 16, JAILED FOR BEATING FEMALE KENYAN STUDENT AND STABBING ARMENIAN MAN. On May 7, a district court in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar sentenced to twenty months in jail a girl, 16, who beat a female Kenyan college student on the street on December 25, 2007, Public Prosecutor Nikita Blokhin told Itar-Tass. The court found the defendant guilty of battery motivated by race hatred and deliberate infliction of bodily damage driven by ethnic intolerance. She also repeatedly stabbed an Armenian man who tried to intervene. She accompanied her actions with shouts that humiliated the racial and ethnic dignity of her victims.

COLLEGE STUDENT CHARGED WITH PRODUCING NEWSPAPER INCITING ETHNIC HATRED. The Amur Region division of the Investigative Committee with the Prosecutor's Office has submitted to the Blagoveshchensk city court a material case charging a student with inciting ethnic hatred and humiliating human dignity, Interfax reported on May 5. Interfax was told that the investigation had been prompted by a complaint from a Blagoveshchensk resident that “Dumat Po-Russky” (Thinking Russian) newspaper publishes extremist statements. "Investigators discovered that the publication had not been registered,” a spokesman for the investigative committee said. ”A local college student and head of the Amur chapter of the Russian Club printed it at home on his computer and at his own expense. The newspaper was distributed free in crowded places. Three issues with a combined circulation of at least 900 copies were published in October-December 2007. A study of the texts proved that several articles did contain information aimed at inciting ethnic hatred. The defendant may be sentenced up to two years in jail."

GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ATTACKED. Two members of an unsanctioned gay rights protest action were attacked in St. Petersburg, according to a May 3 report by the Rosbalt news agency. The attacks took place after the rally when four people came up from behind their victims and struck them on the heads with blunt objects. The victims received medical attention and reported the attacks to police. Rosbalt noted that in recent years in Moscow, police and far-right nationalists have “brutally suppressed” gay rights rallies.

OPPOSITION GROWS TO NEW RESTRICTIONS IN MEDIA LAW. Russia’s Public Chamber, an advisory agency created by President Vladimir Putin, has expressed its opposition to proposed amendments to the mass media law that are designed to increase the burden of responsibility for unreliable information, Interfax reported on May 3. Lawyer Pavel Astakhov, a member of the Public Chamber, told the news agency that the amendments represent “an out-of-court method to deprive a media outlet of the right to disseminate information." He pointed out that "it is journalists who have an exclusive right in the modern world to be a conductor between the state and society, and fulfill the constitutional mission to disseminate available information on current affairs…. Without legal guarantees to the right, the freedom of speech turns into an empty declaration."

By mid-May, the Public Chamber is scheduled to send to the State Duma its final conclusions about the media law amendments that expand reasons to close down media outlets. “Moskovskiy Komsomolets” editor-in-chief Pavel Gusev heads the special working group set up to prepare the conclusions.

JEWISH CEMETERY VANDALIZED IN GEORGIA. Unidentified individuals vandalized a Jewish cemetery outside Batumi, Georgia last week, local news media reported. Damage includes a spray painted swastika on a headstone, according to the weekly “Batumelebi.” A police investigation is under way.

"I could never have imagined this would happen here," said Emil Krupnik, head of the Association of Georgian-Jewish Relations in Batumi. He said that local residents are “alarmed.” “Nothing similar has ever happened in the past here," Nodar Jorbenadze, director of the cemetery, told Tbilisi-based Mze TV.

* * * QUOTE OF THE WEEK, PROGNOSIS OF ‘PROFOUND INSTABILITY’ AHEAD * * * "We have entered a period of profound instability in the country," the Associated Press item quoted Yevgenia Albats, a prominent Russian commentator and radio show host on the subject of the leadership changes in the Kremlin. "It's hard to say whether we are going to have a new president, or a puppet president."

THE BRAVE NEW WORLD OF MEDVEDEV-PUTIN TEAM
Despite Elaborate Displays of Self-Confidence, Tension Evident in the Kremlin

“Vladimir Putin will be the first to make an appearance at Dmitry Medvedev's inauguration on May 7, and he will be the first to deliver a speech as well,” wrote Kira Latukhina in the newspaper “Vedomosti” dated May 5 in an article titled “Inauguration Pageantry and Symbolism” contrasting Medvedev’s presidential inauguration with Putin’s in 2000. “Experts say that the ceremony is intended to demonstrate that Russia has two rulers.”

In his inaugural address to the nation, Medvedev repeated his statement during the election campaign about the need to “achieve true respect for the law and end the legal nihilism that is seriously hindering modern development.” In his farewell speech, Putin once again stressed the supreme importance of “continuing together the already chosen course of the country’s development.”

On May 8, a “Washington Post” editorial called on Western governments to take Medvedev at his word about his passion for the law and suggested that to begin, he “could be asked for action on the 14 unsolved murders of journalists during Mr. Putin’s tenure—such as that of Anna Politkovskaya, in whose case suspects have been identified but never tried. … A shift toward respect for the law would be welcome, indeed.”

1. POLLS SHOW RUSSIANS PRAISE PUTIN, WELCOME RETURN OF MILITARY PARADE. As a new era begins, the great majority of Russians--78%--praise the Putin presidency for its achievements, and only 8% see more negative than positive elements in his rule, according to a survey conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation, as reported by Interfax. During the poll that was conducted in 100 towns across 46 Russian regions on April 26-27 among 1,500 people, two thirds of respondents (67%) said they have no worries over the change of the country's president and only 21% see Putin's departure with anxiety.

Polls suggest that the dominant mood in Russia favors Putin’s belligerent positions. According to another poll, conducted by public opinion research center VTsIOM and reported by the main government information agency Itar-Tass, more than 70% of all Russians welcome the resumption of military parades on Moscow's Red Square. The first such parade is scheduled for May 9, after an interval of 17 years. The Russian military will display more than 200 units of defense technologies. According to the list published by Itar-Tass, the parade will include the tanks T-90, the infantry combat vehicles BMP-3, the armored personnel carriers BTR-80, self-propelled artillery mounts, the Smerch /Tornado/ salvo systems, the air defense combat vehicles Buk, and the Topol mobile land-based missile systems.

Among those polled, 23% said the parade will help demonstrate Russia's military power. Another 15% said that the military hardware will make the parade more spectacular, and 10% indicated it will serve as a tribute to the soldiers who fell during World War II. Other arguments the pollsters heard suggested that "it is interesting to look at new weaponry systems," that "their public display will invoke people's interest in history and foster the feeling of pride for this country," and that "this will raise the prestige of our Armed Forces."

Only 10% respondents voiced objections to resuming the Soviet-era tradition, and 3% among them said they object to it vehemently. Still others expressed concern that large-scale military parades may damage nearby buildings and architectural monuments, pavements, and the cobblestones of Red Square.

Itar-Tass recalled that the first military Victory Parade was held on Red Square on June 24, 1945 on the order of the then-Supreme Commander-in-Chief Yosif Stalin.

2. PUTIN: SHOW OF FORCE IS NO SABER-RATTLING. Two days before he stepped down as head of state, Vladimir Putin said that the May 9 display of military hardware on Red Square does not mean that Russia is threatening anyone, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported on May 5. "For the first time in many years, military hardware will be involved in the parade,” Putin declared. “This is not saber-rattling. We threaten no one and do not intend to do so. It is a simple display of our growing defense capability."

3. POLICE WILL BLOCK MARCH BY DISSENTERS. When it comes to banning dissenters to take their case to the streets, the Medvedev inauguration seems determined to follow Putin policies. A stiff refusal and stern warnings by the authorities suggest that any attempt to stage “marches of dissent” will meet tough police intervention, perhaps even more brutal than on earlier occasions. But dissenters may not back down.

On May 4, the opposition movement the Other Russia announced that it intends to stage a “march of dissent” in Moscow despite the city authorities’ refusal to sanction it. The movement’s press service explained: "The application for the action was filed on April 21. The mayor's office refused to authorize the action. It gave its reply eight days after the notification about the 'march of dissent.' And secondly, the officials did not propose any alternative venue for the procession." Other Russia cited the law: "The organizers have fully performed the duty of notifying the authorities in time [but] did not get any refusal by April 24 and, therefore, have the right to hold the public events they announced."

The next day, May 5, “a source with law enforcement agencies” told Interfax: "Any action that is not sanctioned by the city authorities will be foiled in strict compliance with the Russian legislation, and adequate measures of influence will be exerted on trespassers.”

4. EXODUS FROM ISRAEL. Ignoring the repression and uncertainty in Moscow, tens of thousands of Jews who fled Soviet oppression are returning to Russia, Reuters reported in a lengthy feature article on May 5. According to the article titled “Despite Antisemitism, Russia Lures Back Jews,” the reason for the mass return to Russia is the chance “to make the most of an economic boom, even though a new strain of antisemitism is emerging in their old homeland. …Those returning now from Israel, the United States, and Europe hope to use their new skills and old knowledge to do business.”

"Now there are services here, like in New York and Paris, but the lifestyle is more interesting than in either of them--it's easy to understand why thousands are coming back," Yevgeny Satanovsky, president of the Russian Jewish Congress, was quoted as saying. Hard statistics on Jews returning to Russia do not exist, said Satanovsky, but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence. (According to the Israeli embassy in Moscow, around 90,000 of its citizens live in Russia.) He estimates that 80,000-120,000 Russian Jews have returned to Russia, plus many more who originated in other Soviet republics. "If you look at industry or banking you'll find thousands of families who have come back," he said. "New Russian corporations are now hunting for managers from all over the world who have western experience and a Russian background. These emigrants know the language, the lifestyle, so it's very easy for them to integrate."

However, Reuters pointed out, the disintegration of the Soviet Union also gave rise to a new phenomenon threatening Jews: skinheads and far-right groups who daub swastikas on walls and throw petrol bombs through synagogue windows. In the 17 years since Soviet rule collapsed, attacks on Russia's Jewish population of about one million and their property have been increasing in both number and severity; say community leaders and human rights organizations.

"In Russia there exists 'bytovoi' antisemitism, literally meaning everyday or household, which is grassroots antisemitism, which is the main problem," Pinchas Goldschmidt, Moscow's chief rabbi and chairman of the European Conference of Rabbis, told Reuters. "This is attacks on synagogues, spontaneous attacks on cemeteries, etc ... In Russia we fear the skinheads and neo-Nazis."

Reuters noted that antisemitism reared its head during presidential election campaigns earlier this year, with dozens of web sites and forums identifying Jewish candidates. “The most severe attacks were directed at president-elect Dmitry Medvedev, who was cast as having Jewish roots and therefore unfit to run the country,” Reuters reported. “Sites used pejorative words to describe him, asked surfers to compare his face to well-known Jewish billionaires and said Medvedev would favor Israeli foreign policy in Russia's dealings with Iran and other Muslim states.”

According to Reuters, antisemitism is only one strand in the rise of xenophobia, as most attacks target dark-skinned immigrants, many of them Muslims, from ex-Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Sova Information-Analytical Center’s director, Alexander Verkhovsky, was quoted as saying: "Race-hate violence is increasing in Russia. We have noticed that 50% of people in Russia have xenophobic tendencies, and if someone is a nationalist, he will naturally be an antisemite." While there is a law against inciting racism, it is rarely applied, say anti-racism groups, and most hate crimes are classified only as "hooliganism" by the authorities, say human rights campaigners. "What the community would like to see is the full implementation and willingness of state authorities to go after these [skinhead] elements which are a danger," Rabbi Goldschmidt was quoted as saying.

5. RUSSIAN ORTHODOX SCHOLAR CALLS FOR CONVERTING JEWS IN ISRAEL. In the midst of the conflicting trends, it is not surprising that one leading Russian Orthodox scholar has decided to call for “a serious effort” to convert Russian-speaking Jews in Israel. On May 5, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Deacon Andrei Kuraev, a professor at the Moscow Spiritual Academy, said the Orthodox Christian Church based in Moscow should begin to proselytize actively among Israel's 3 million Russian-speaking Jews. "We have a unique opportunity here for the growth of Orthodoxy in general because hundreds of thousands of Russian Jews have moved to the area," Kuraev told Interfax. "This is a unique missionary opportunity. Through Jews who were raised on European and Russian classics, we could carry the light of the gospel to all Israel."

Kuraev claimed that the middle-class intelligentsia that makes up a large part of Russian immigrants to Israel "shows a huge interest in Christianity."

6. U.S. CONGRESS POSTPONES CONDEMNING RUSSIA FOR THREATENING GEORGIA. The debate on a nonbinding resolution in the U.S. Congress that accuses Russia of being responsible for "provocative and dangerous statements and actions" against Georgia has been postponed, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on May 6. “Technically, the discussion and voice vote on May 5 was a debate, but only three members of the House of Representatives spoke for the resolution, and no one spoke against it,” the radio pointed out.

The legislators cited efforts by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to resolve the matter through negotiations and portrayed Russian President Vladimir Putin as a provocateur. Rep. Diane Watson (D-Ca.) said the recent incidents in Abkhazia revealed Putin as an aggressor and Saakashvili as a negotiator. She criticized Russian moves to strengthen legal and trade ties with both Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and she called on Putin to accept Saakashvili's call for negotiations on Georgia's two breakaway regions. Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex.) said it's time for the U.S. government to abandon any hope that Russia will act in good faith on Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He said that Moscow is intent on punishing Georgia. Poe said: "It now appears obvious that Russia seeks to play a destabilizing role in Georgia, with the goal of undermining Georgia's political and economic development and ultimately its own sovereignty." Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) argued that Moscow's intentions are more sinister than they may appear. "This is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt by Russia to append these regions, which are part of the sovereign nation of Georgia," she said.

According to RFE/RL, no one spoke against the resolution, but several members of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe objected last week that its language was too harsh. On May 5, the measure was subjected to a voice vote but it was nullified because of a lack of a quorum. The measure was then postponed indefinitely.

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