September, 2009. Monthly Summary

In September, 2009, in Russia, not less than 23 people, including 6 fatalities, became victims of racist and neo-nazi motivated violence. Beside Moscow and St. Petersburg, such attacks took place in Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Orel and Samara. In September, 2008, 7 people were murdered and not less than 47 more injured.

In all, from the beginning of the year, in 36 regions of Russia, as a result of racist and neo-nazi attacks, not less than 48 people were murdered and 253 more injured. In the same period of time, in 2008, 92 people died and not less than 379 were injured.

In September, there were not less than 11 acts of vandalism in 8 regions of Russia. The case in Tver region was a high profile one, for the Dmitrovo-Cherkasskoye cemetery was attacked 3 times in September. Besides, attacks on Jewish objects and cemeteries took place in Khabarovsk region (there was an arson attack) and in Nizhny Novgorod region. In Sverdlovsk region a mosque was attacked, in Krasnodar region Armenian cemetery was targeted, and in Tyumen and Lipetsk regions :ideological; vandal actions were reported (we consider as :ideological action; not a singular swastika painted on a wall, but an organized large scale graffiti action or an action targeting certain important objects, such as Second World War II memorials).

From the beginning of the year, we have registered not less than 73 cases of ideologically and racially motivated vandalism, including 9 arson attacks. In particular, there were 24 cases of ideologically motivated vandalism, 20 anti-Jewish actions, 13 anti-Orthodox, 6 anti-Muslim, 4 anti-Armenian, 4 anti-Protestant and one episode against each of Catholic and New Religious Movements' buildings.

In September, the Federal List of the Extremist Materials was enlarged 4 times (4, 17, 23 and 25 September) by paragraphs 415-431. The last paragraph concerns the book :Personality of a Muslim; which has been enlisted once some time ago, so it constitutes the 15th duplicate on the list. In September, the decision to doom an anti-Krishnaite leaflet (paragraph 413) as an extremist one was canceled, thus the number of unlawfully enlisted materials went up to 6.

In September, there were not less than 3 guilty verdicts issued for violent hate crimes, 2 in Nizhny Novgorod and one in Moscow. 17 people were convicted, including 4 who got suspended sentences. In all, from the beginning of the year, 34 trials ended with guilty verdicts for violent hate crimes. 102 people were convicted, including 26 who got suspended sentences or were released from imprisonment for different reasons.

There were 4 guilty verdicts for xenophobic propaganda against 5 people in Republic of Komi and in Vladimir region in September. In all, from the beginning of the year, there were 29 guilty verdicts for xenophobic propaganda (article 282 of the Criminal Code) against 40 people, including 20 who got suspended sentences.

In September, the most high profile events in the field of unlawful implementation of the anti-extremist legislation were the case of Novorossijsk Committee for Human Rights being accused of extremism for using a slogan :You don't give the freedom, you take the freedom;, and the case of a Jehovah Witnesses organization of Taganrog which was doomed as extremist as well as a long list of their materials.