#sova center

[76crimes]

Anti-gay hate crimes rise slightly in Russia

Anti-gay hate crimes rise slightly in Russia

Anti-LGBT hate crimes rose were up last year in Russia, according to a non-profit organization that also tracks xenophobia and racism in the country.

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[footballnewsintl]

A look at some of the incidents highlighted in the report from the Moscow-based SOVA Center and the Fare network, which helps to prosecute racism cases for European football's governing body UEFA. London-based Fare says Russian football is plagued by a racist and far-right extremist fan culture that threatens the safety of visitors to the 2018 World Cup. Following are some of the incidents Fare mentions in its report, which covers two years from 2012-2014. Source: The Associated Press

[footballnewsintl]

Russian football is plagued by a racist and far-right extremist fan culture that threatens the safety of visitors to the 2018 World Cup, a report provided to The Associated Press reveals. Researchers from the Moscow-based SOVA Center and the Fare network, which helps to prosecute racism cases for European football's governing body UEFA, highlighted more than 200 cases of discriminatory behavior linked to Russian football over two seasons. ''It shows a really quite gruesome picture of a domestic league which is full of aspects of racism, xenophobia: The far-right play a significant role in the fan culture,'' Fare executive director Piara Powar said in an interview with the Associated Press. In the week when the football world was focused on the rescheduling of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, this report - entitled ''Time for Action''- shifts the focus back onto the next hosts of football's biggest event, due to be held in three years' time in 11 Russian cities. Source: The Associated Press

[blackgirlinrussia]

The following is our monthly review of instances of xenophobia and radical nationalism, along with any government countermeasures, for December 2013. The review also includes preliminary information for a summary of notable incidents and cases for the year 2013 as a whole. It is based on material gathered by Sova Center in the course of our daily monitoring.

In December 2013, three people were targeted in racist and neo-Nazi attacks. In Moscow a Tajik national was killed, while two Uzbeks were assaulted in St. Petersburg.

According to preliminary data for the year, such attacks in 32 regions of Russia resulted in the deaths of no fewer than 20 people and injuries to no fewer than 173. Additionally, nine people were targets of serious death threats. 

The capital cities maintained their status as the leading centers of racist violence, with eight killed and 53 injured in Moscow, and three killed and 32 injured in St. Petersburg. There were many victims in the Lipetsk region (four killed, 9 injured); the Chelyabinsk and Moscow regions (both with eight injured); and the Sverdlovsk region (two killed, four injured).

In 2013, the primary victims of attack from far-right activists were natives of the Central Asian countries (13 killed, 39 injured), the Caucasus (three killed, 26 injured), people identified simply as bearing a “non-Slavic appearance” (one killed, 28 injured), blacks (five injured), and Chinese (six injured). Others who faced assault were the same groups targeted by repressive laws passed recently: minority religious groups (24 injured) and the LGBT community (one killed, 25 injured). At the same time, the number of attacks on leftist activists and members of youth groups decreased (seven injured); these had formerly been primary targets for the far right.

We are aware of only a single act of neo-Nazi vandalism in December 2013, carried out against a Jewish community center.

Accordingly, we recorded 79 acts of ideologically motivated vandalism in 37 regions of the country this year. The main targets were Orthodox churches (29 incidents), Jehovah’s Witnesses buildings (11 incidents), and Jewish and Muslim objects (10 and nine incidents respectively).

In terms of public actions, the ultra-right laid relatively low in December. 

In St. Petersburg there was a march “Against Ethno-Terror” held on the anniversary of the December 2010 events on Manezh Square in Moscow; it was organized by Dmitry Bobrov of the National Socialist Initiative, with 100-120 people in attendance. Moscow activists organized by Aleksandr Amelin (of the Russian Renaissance) attempted to pull off a similar action, but most were detained before it began.

Additionally, a small rally was held on December 7 at Yauzskie Vorota Square, near the monument to the “border guards of the fatherland,” timed to coincide with the anniversary of the death of soccer fan Egor Sviridov. The action, which brought together some ten people, was organized by the Brotherhood of St. Vladimir (Moscow RONA led by Oleg Filatchev) in conjunction with Pamyat.

December saw a few local conflicts that sparked anti-migrant incidents among residents. The most important was in the Nizhny Novgorod region city of Arzamas, where riots turned into pogroms, leading to detentions. The source of the unrest was a brawl at a local café that ended in a local’s death at the hands of Armenian nationals.

Another notable event was the November 23 murder of boxer Ivan Klimov in Omsk, which was made known on a December 10 edition of the Channel 1 show Let Them Talk. The suspects in the killing are Roma drug traffickers. The broadcast caused new excitement around the case, leading to a few rallies

No fewer than three convictions were issued this month for racist violence motivated by hatred, in the Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod regions and the Khabarovsk Krai. Nine people were convicted. The most notable decision was the Prioksy District Court (Nizhny Novgorod) verdict against seven Nazi skinheads of the group White Flock. The convicts had been accused of no fewer than 10 attacks on “nonwhite” people, or those “mistaken for pedophiles” from 2010 to 2012. None of the group was sentenced to prison time – instead, the group’s founder was given a suspended sentence, while two other individuals were sentenced to hard labor. The case against the remaining four was discontinued due to either reconciliation or amnesty.

Also in 2013, the Moscow City Court banned the nationalist Autonomous Combat Terrorist Organization (ABTO) as a terrorist group, not simply as extremist. This is the first case where such a label has been applied to a far-right Russian group (indeed, to any non-Muslim group). As of December 30, 2013, the decision is not reflected in the online list of domestic and international organizations deemed terrorist by the Russian government (which is maintained on the FSB website). That list currently includes 19 other groups

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