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Public reaction to anti-Semitism
As in previous years, anti-Semitic actions do not cause any widespread public protests. Exceptions to this rule are very rare. Thus, on 21 March 2008, the Commission of the Public Chamber of Inter-Ethnic Relations and Freedom of Conscience made a special resolution on the scandalous statements of Mufti N. Ashirov. “We must be aware that incorrect or aggressive statements on issues of nationality or religion cause a very negative reaction. An especially great responsibility lies on religious leaders, since all of their statements are perceived as the official point of view of their congregations,” the statement said.
On April 15, the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church forbade distribution of the “ Christian Spirit” (Moscow) and the “Easter of Third Rome” (Vyksa city of Nizhny Novgorod Region) newspapers in all institutions of the ROC and at the Orthodox fairs and exhibitions. However, the reason for the ban was not the anti-Semitism of these newspapers but their public statements in support of former Chukchi bishop Diomed.
Opposite examples can also be seen. For instance, in July 2008, the Ivanovo Branch of the Assembly of Nations of Russia, which unites national Diasporas, gave no support to the proposal of leader of the regional Jewish community Erwin Kirshtein to condemn the fascist manifestations and demonstrated an overall unfriendly attitude towards the Jewish community of the city.
More activities can be seen in the Jewish communities of Russia. Protests against the statements of N. Ashirov were made on March 6-7 by the Federation of the Jewish Communities of Russia, President of the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations of Russia (CJROA) Rabbi Zinovy Kogan, the Russian Jewish Congress, and Israel's Ambassador to Russia Anna Azari. the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) Head of the Department of Public Relations and Mass Media Roman Spektor said in an interview to the islam.ru website that Ashirov’s statements touch upon the feelings of the Jewish people. He emphasized that the EAJC hopes that the Council of Muftis would resolve this situation and voiced hope for the further development of the Judeo-Islamic dialogue. “Ashirov has always had a position somewhat different from the adopted policy of the Council of Muftis” he added.
On 12 May 2008, the Russian Jewish Congress made a statement on the attacks on the Jewish charity Center in Tula. “These actions of the anti-Semitic vandals seem particularly blasphemous and cynical, since they occurred in the hero city of Tula during the celebration of Victory over fascism ... In this regard, we are surprised with the lack of response from the local authorities and the law-enforcement bodies after the first incident... It is obvious that such a lack of action against the extremists prompts more crimes, and that was proved two days later, when an attack took place on the workers of the Jewish Center. The Russian Jewish Congress believed and believes that any incident in Russia aimed at inciting ethnic hatred should not go unpunished: it threatens the very foundations of our multinational country,” said the statement.
The FJCR Department of Advocacy and Fight against Anti-Semitism made another attempt in August 2008 to close down the anti-Semitic website “ Orthodox Russia” by sending a letter to its American host. Also on August 19, letters were sent to the administration of the social network “Vkontakte” (“In Contact”) with the demands to remove two groups, of the obvious anti-Semitic nature. In addition, the Department sent a petition to the Prosecutor of St. Petersburg with the request to bring to justice according to the laws of Russia those involved in the spreading of the “Russia with a Knife in the Back” film. The Administration of the "In Contact" network expressed readiness to actively cooperate with FJCR in fighting against anti-Semitism, chauvinism and ethnic hatred, saying that the accounts of the two groups have been removed.
The authorities’ response to anti-Semitism
It should be noted that Russia’s authorities have paid little attention to the actual anti-Semitism, while at actively implementing the rhetoric about the need to combat xenophobia and extremism, including anti-Semitism. Only in meetings with leaders of the Jewish community of Russia or in cases when the leadership of Russia had to respond to a foreign publication on the country's lack of fight against anti-Semitism, the authorities specifically dealt with this issue.
In her meeting with President of FJCR A. Boroda on March 18, Governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matvienko stated that "there are very few incidents of anti-Semitism in St. Petersburg these days, which demonstrates good work by the city administration, the law enforcements and shows that the level of tolerance among its citizens has increased”. However, this positive picture was slightly spoiled two weeks later when it became known that one of the candidates running for the advisory council of the regional Commissioner for Human Rights was named ultranationalist R. Perin.
Speaking at a press conference in late January about the skinheads’ attack on the Jewish community center in Ulyanovsk, Advisor to the Governor of the Ulyanovsk region, Pavlov, called the attack a “shocking event”. He promised that the administration would do everything necessary to punish the perpetrators fully, according to the law. This statement, coupled with information about the criminal investigation, apparently frightened the nationalists. While initially, representatives of the RONS, whose members had attacked the Jewish community center, recommended that the Jewish organizations would think more about how much harm their nation had brought to Russia and the Russian people over the past 200 years in order to understand the “position of the Russian youth”, later, when it became clear that a real criminal case would be launched and that he would be removed from the election list, the leader of the local branch of RONS hastened to declare the pogrom a “provocation” designed to discredit RONS. He said that members of his organization “took no part in the events at the Jewish community center”, and that the “leadership of the regional department of their organization never authorized such an action”.
After the U.S. Department of State reported on global anti-Semitism, stating that Russia’s authorities showed weakness in fighting against anti-Semitism, Foreign Ministry criticized this document, claiming that it was politically motivated. “There are plenty of examples of anti-Semitism in the world, so there is no need to blame only Russia”, said Russia’s diplomats. Head of the Duma Committee on International Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, regarded the report’s criticism of anti-Semitism in Russia as yet another attempt to “present Russia as the source of all possible problems, both for her own population and for the surrounding countries.”
On 17 March, the “Interfax-Religion” website published an interview with Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar. He stressed that the State Department’s report contains no specific criticism of Russia, while the most problematic place in the whole former Soviet Union is Ukraine, where the number of anti-Semitic incidents is increasing, whereas in Russia, according to the rabbi, it is reducing.
Enforcement of law in crimes and offenses committed on the grounds of anti-Semitism
1. Court sentences that have entered into force
2. Cases pending under consideration
3. Criminal cases at the preliminary investigation stage
4. Suppression of extremist media activities, the Federal list of extremist materials;
5. Deficiencies of the law-enforcement practice
6. Joint resolution of the Prosecutor General, the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service to combat extremism
1. In 2008, the activities of law-enforcement bodies in their fight against radical nationalism (and anti-Semitism as its important component) increased significantly. Their attention now extends to those areas which had been previously ignored (the publication of anti-Semitic literature, online publications, the posting of flyers and anti-Semitic graffiti).
A total of 60 people were convicted for crimes and offenses of the anti-Semitic nature in 2008 (twice as many as in 2007). This increase can be explained by the intensification of the law enforcement and the expansion of criminal and administrative liabilities. Several cases draw our special attention.
In early January, punishment was toughened to anti-Semitic editor of the “ Native Siberia” newspaper I. Kolodezenko convicted in 2007 to 2 years and 10 months in prison – he was transferred from a settlement colony to general prison. The transfer was caused by the fact that Kolodezenko continued his activities in prison, which the court described as inciting ethnic hatred.
On January 21, the Vyborg People”s Court sentenced captain of the 1st rank retired Vladislav Nikolsky to one year in prison for the publication of the “What to Do Now (the minimum program for the Russian people)” brochure according to Article 280 of the Criminal Code: public incitement to violent overthrow of the state system, and Article 282: inciting national, racial or religious hatred.
On February 12, the Central District Court found former head of Novosibirsk Roskompechat Boris Mironov guilty of inciting ethnic hatred. However, Mironov was released due to the expiry of time limitation. In his final statement, Mironov declared that he was tried by “Zionists and Jews, because I dared to touch the most forbidden things in this country since 1918 – the crimes of the Jewish mafia.”
On February 18, the Basmanny Court in Moscow sentenced to three years of prison leader of the ultranationalist group “Format 18” M. Marcinkiewicz. He was accused of trying to disrupt political debates on February 28, 2007, at the “Bilingual” club in Chistye Prudy. On April 9, the Moscow City Court confirmed the verdict.
On April 25, the Samara City Court pronounced a verdict to publisher of the “Horsу” Slavic Almanac Sergei Salamatin, accused according to Article 282. Salamatin was sentenced to a fine of 30 thousand rubles for the distribution of the banned extremist literature.
On May 13, the Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced a city resident to a fine of 100 thousand rubles for distributing the “Russia with a Knife in the Back. Jewish Fascism and the Genocide of the Russian People” film which had been found extremist.
The Court of Voronezh sentenced on May 27 leader of the National-Socialist Society Dmitry Rumyantsev to one year of prison (suspended sentence) with two years of probation for inciting ethnic hatred. The reason for the sentence was found in Rumyantsev’s speech at a rally in Voronezh in July 2007.
Leader of the Amur Branch of the nationalist Union of Russian People Igor Terekhov was sentenced on June 30 to three years of settlement colony. Two of his colleagues, Yevgeny Smirnov and Sergei Sychev, got respectively one and a half and two and a half years of probation.
On July 30, the Cherepovets City Court convicted two nationalists who published the Artomans magazine, which had been put on the federal list of extremist materials. One of the convicted, Yuri Gagarin, was sentenced to three years in prison (suspended sentence) and two years of probation. The second defendant, Alexander Skvortsov, was sentenced to imprisonment for seven years and six months with in the strict regime colony (the sentence included his previous sentence on charges of beating up a foreigner).
On September 18, the Ulyanovsk City Court convicted four residents of the city who attacked the Jewish Community Center in January. The court found the suspects guilty of charges according to Article 282 of the Criminal Code. Two of the convicts were sentenced to prison sentences ranging from one to three years, while two other men were assigned correctional work.
On 6 October, the Boksitogorsky City Court (Leningrad region) sentenced former police officer Smirnov to two years and 6 months’ imprisonment (suspended) with three years of probation for enticing national enmity according to Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code and Part 1 of Article 222 of the Criminal Code (illegal purchase, storage, transportation and carrying of ammunition). He had hosted a specially constructed website www.swastika.ueuo.com and wrote articles in the Living Journal that incited hatred of the Jews and the Caucasians.
On October 10, leader of the nationalist Party of Freedom, Yuri Belyaev, was found guilty by the St. Petersburg Court according to Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 6 months in prison, most of which he has already served.
Among those convicted of anti-Semitic crimes in 2008, 16 people were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 6 months to 3.5 years, one man was sentenced to 7.5 years of imprisonment for multiple offenses, and three – to 1-3 years of settlement colony.
Please note the high share of suspended sentences versus prison terms (such sentences were handed down to 23 defendants). This in reality profanes the very idea of punishment for a crime, so that the person who committed the crime feels a sort of impunity, which could induce him to go further down this path.
The majority of persons sentenced to suspended imprisonment did not commit crimes of violence. The best punishment for them would not have been suspended sentence, but penalty. In 2008, a system of fines was used more than in 2007 (11 and 5 of those penalized, respectively). In some cases, fines were not quite symbolic – the largest payout amounted to 100 thousand rubles. It seems that the paying of penalties is often more effective than probation.
The exemption from liability of two defendants, one of which was well-known radical anti-Semite B. Mironov, again raises the question of the lengthening the period of limitation for crimes described in Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code to prevent the possibility of radical nationalists’ indefinitely dragging feet during the investigation and trial and thus evading the responsibility.
However, court hearings touched not only the activists of the nationalist organizations, but those organizations themselves. On April 7, the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of the City of Ryazan decided to close down the city organization of RNE in answer to an application of the Prosecutor of the Ryazan region.
On April 16, the Soviet District Court of Samara declared extremist the materials found on the website of the “Alex” legal aid agency, organized by well-known anti-Semite O. Kitter, and banned this resource.
In Akhtubinsk, a legal action was taken in regards a local cell of the “To God’s State” organization. The organization was declared extremist (by a court judgment that came into force on September 24). On June 4 and October 29, its members were found guilty according to Part 1 and Part 2 of Article 282.1 of the Criminal Code (organization of an extremist community and participation in it), Paragraph “B” of Part 2 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code (incitement to hatred or hostility). Vladimir Naidanov was sentenced to two years of probation.
2. On January 15, criminal proceedings were instituted according to Part 2 of Article 280 of the Criminal Code (public calls for extremist activities through the media) against Y. Mukhin, editor-in-chief of one of the major anti-Semitic publications – the “Duel” newspaper. On April 17, hearing began into his criminal case. As far as the newspaper goes, on February 28, the Moscow City Court examined the cassation appeal of the "Duel" newspaper against the judgment of the Zamoskvorechye Court on the termination of the newspaper, overturned that decision and sent the case for reconsideration. However, on November 26, 2008, the Zamoskvorechye District Court of Moscow once again made the decision to close the “Duel” newspaper, and the editorial appealed against it again.
On July 8, 2008, trial begins in Ryazan of members of the Ryazan Regional Branch of the Interregional Public Movement for National Revival “The National Sovereign Path of Rus” accused according to Part 2 of Article 282.
On August 13, 2008, the Federal Court of the Kirov region began to look into the criminal case against editor-in- chief of the “ Orthodox Russia” newspaper, one of the most famous publications that promote anti-Semitism, Konstantin Dushenov, as well as Peter Meleshko and Alexander Malyshev. They were accused according to Article 282 of the Criminal Code for incitement to hatred and enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity of a person or a group of people on the grounds of nationality, origin, or religion, committed in public and with the use of media by an organized group.
On September 2, the Cherepovets City Court started the hearing into the case of former librarian of the Cherepovets Bishop Parish of the Resurrection monastery, N. Yuganov, on charges of distributing the film “ Russia with a Knife in the Back: Jewish Fascism and the Genocide of the Russian People.” This film was put on the federal list of extremist materials.
On May 13, the case was transferred to court against former publisher of the “Russian Master” magazine, leader of the unregistered Great Russian Political Party and distributor of anti-Semitic literature, A. Chervyakov according to Part 1 of Article 282-1 of the Criminal Code: organization of an extremist society.
3. In April 2008, a criminal case was started against leader of one of the most prominent nationalist organizations, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, A. Potkin. The reason for this case was A. Potkin’s speech at the “Russian March” in Moscow on November 4, 2007, which contained anti-Semitic passages, such as, “You are the real power rather not those who hide in the Torah scrolls.” In November 2008, Potkin was formally charged. In addition to the significance of the figure of Potkin, this criminal case is also important because the court saw an additional offence “in him insulting the highest executive power. The insult was their identification with the Jews in a negative sense.”
Perhaps the criminal case against Potkin prompted nationalist activist K. Krylov to try and “whitewash” radical nationalism of accusations of anti-Semitism. In his article “17 Answers of Russian Nationalists” published in December 2008 on the pro-Kremlin Liberty.ru website, Krylov sought to play down the role of anti-Semitism in the nationalist ideology. He demagogically stated that all these years there was no attempt to commit any real violent actions. All that “fighters against anti-Semitism” can produce is just words. He said anti-Semitic propaganda and pogroms are nothing but “words and harmless discussion of history, culture, politics and national interests.”
On June 11, the prosecutor’s office of the South-East district of Moscow opened a criminal case against editor-in- chief of the “The Russian True Press” publishing house, A. Bragin, who had published his book “ Why People Do Not Like the Jewish Mafia.”
In Arkhangelsk, a criminal case was started in August according to Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code against Alexei Mikhailov. He is one of the leaders of the regional branch of the People’s Union. The ground for these criminal proceedings became Mikhailov’s public xenophobic and anti-Semitic statements.
The Prosecutor of the Tyumen region filed a criminal case on August 26 into the April course of the “Fundamentals of Religious Knowledge” lectured by S.Shestakova.
4. In April, a list of public and religious associations was published which the court judged to close down or ban their activities on the grounds provided by the Federal Law “On Countering Extremist Activities.” Of the six listed entities, four were of anti-Semitic nature.
On April 21, the Prosecutor General’s Office addressed head of the Federal Customs Service (FCS) Andrei Belyaninov with an appeal to eliminate the violations involved in the termination of import of printed and audiovisual products (literature, films, etc.) of extremist nature into the territory of Russia.
Prosecutors of the Pushkin district of St. Petersburg addressed in June 2008 the heads of the district administration, the police department of the Pushkin district in St. Petersburg, the municipal education department, the Housing Agency of the Pushkin District of St. Petersburg with an appeal to eliminate violations and implement severe punishment on the responsible staff of that district after the fact that swastikas were found in the area in March 2008.
A rise in activities of the law-enforcement bodies in the field of prosecution of anti-Semitic literature distribution can be also seen in the rapid growth of the federal list of extremist materials. On 22 December 2008, it numbered 301 publications. Nearly all of the materials named in the list come from the Islamists or Russian radical nationalists, and to different degrees are anti-Semitic in nature. Among the materials added to the list are K. Dushenov’s film “Russia with a Knife in the Back. Jewish Fascism and Genocide of the Russian People “, the Cherepovets “Artomans” magazine, the Samara "Horse" Almanac, the "Basics of Russianism" brochure by A.Ivanov-Sukharevsky, Nicolskiy’s brochure “Russian National Initiative. What Do I Do Now (the minimum program for the Russian people)”, George Butmi’s book “Kabala [“bondage” in Russian] or Freedom,” which includes one of the versions of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, V. Istarhov’s books “The Blow of the Russian Gods” and “What is Dead Water?”
In December it became known that the Rossvyazokhrankultura and the Roskomsvyaznadzor that replaced earlier that year had issued no less than 15 warnings to the mass media for anti-Semitic publications.
On October 6, the election commission removed activist of the Union of Russian People and the Khabarovsk City Duma deputy Dmitry Kovalchuk from the list of candidates running in the election of the head of the administration of the Amur village in the Jewish Autonomous Region for inciting ethnic hatred and bribing voters. On October 20, representatives of the Union of Russian People attempted to picket the Jewish Autonomous Regional Government building in Birobidzhan in protest against the withdrawal of D. Kovalchuk from the election campaign. The picketing failed due to a lack of picketers.
5. However, this struggle has led to some “excesses” when the definition of anti-Semitism and extremism were used to describe absolutely different things or when these definitions were used as a “big stick” against newspapers of democratic opposition. On January 24, the prosecutor of the Central district of Volgograd asked the court to look into the signs of extremist materials in the book of historian Joachim Fest “Hitler. Biography”. Prosecutor of the Central District of Volgograd, Alexander Rastrygin, said that this book revises the outcome of the Second World War. On April 10, the prosecutor’s office of Novosibirsk region announced investigation into the organizers of the “Jeeps against Tanks” – “the Kolyvan battle” public event. It took place near the village of Great Oesh in Kolyvansky area on March 16, 2006. The Prosecutor’s Office found extremism in the actions of the organizers. As a result, the prosecutor's office banned retired military V. Verevochkin, who restores the armor of the World War II, drawing crosses on the old German tanks, because this was seen as propaganda of the Nazi symbols.
On May 2008, the Prosecutors’ Office of Moscow responded to the so-called “Russian Anti-Fascist Committee” (one of the nationalist organizations actively using pseudo-legal rhetoric) who demanded that “Tania” written by founder of the Lubavitch Chasidism, r.Shneur Zalman Schneerson, be recognized as a book containing extremist material. The Prosecutor’s Office began to look “into the publication and distribution in Moscow of the book “Likutey Amari” (“Tania”) and the legality of its use in the educational process of the Moscow Touro University. In June, a check was made in the children's store "Banana Mama" in St. Petersburg after the claims they sell CDs with “Area 88” (which turned out to be a cartoon about adventures of a pilot from Japan). Then the city prosecutor accused author of the “My Region” newspaper, D. Kachalovf, of promoting extremism in her phrase: “In principle, this fashion is not too terrible. No worse than a pierced bellybutton, boots with crystals or hair in the form of swastika”.
On July 8, the Ulyanovsk Court recognized as extremist the book by famous British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper “Hitler’s Table Talks. 1941-1944” and banned its distribution in the territory of Russia.
On January 31, the judicial board for civil cases of the Saratov Regional Court dropped charges against the “ Saratov Reporter” newspaper. It had published a collage depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin in the form of Soviet agent Schtirlits, thus eliminating the resolution on photo collage publications of the Srednyaya Volga Office of the Federal Service for Supervision of Law in Mass Communications and Protection of Cultural Heritage. The same “excess” can be seen in the unsuccessful attempt of the Investigative Committee of the Federal Procurator for the Perm Territory in April 2008 to rule as extremist the article by Chairman of the Civil Chamber of the Perm, Igor Averkiev, “Putin - Our Good Hitler.”
However, it should be noted that the desire to see extremism in unexpected places is found not only among the law-enforcement bodies. Thus, on May 12, one of the Yekaterinburg banks was accused by some vigilant citizens of promoting neo-Nazism, since in its advertising it offered dividends of 14, 88% a year, allegedly linking two neo-Nazi cryptograms – “14 words!” and “Heil Hitler!”
On the other hand, the awareness of the law-enforcement bodies of the need to combat extremism and anti-Semitism was initiated from the “top” and is not fully supported from the “bottom”, thus reducing some the level of motivation with some officials to perform this task. This fact made it possible for some criminal cases in this area to result in the verdict of “not guilty”. A certain role here is played by the fact that some officers of the law enforcement are anti-Semitic, too. On May 19, 2008, the Frunze District Court of Saratov looked into the case of recognizing the book by Hans F.K. Gunther “Selected Works on Racism" (published by the Moscow “White Alva” publishing house) as extremist literature. The Court made a negative decision.
Representatives of the Jewish community look skeptically at the work of the authorities in combating anti-Semitism. Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar told an interview to the German Deutsche Welle radio station in June 2008 that “nobody is willing to fight” with xenophobia. “Skinheads, fascists, nationalists take to the streets where our children walk. Places where they congregate are well known, their events are known in advance, but nobody takes any action. And the authorities understand the danger of these groups, but seem to hoard them for themselves as a kind of marginal force, for some of their objectives. However, the situation has become uncontrollable, this force has grown out of what had been expected, and became dangerous for Russia as a whole. The consequences can be devastating. In the face of this force, first we see aggressive slogans, then actions, then murder,” he warned. In July 2008, after the appeal of Erwin Kirshtein, head of the Jewish community in the Ivanovo region, the government and the law-enforcement bodies practically declared the Jews guilty of the appearance of anti-Semitic graffiti and attacks on members of their community because the Jews had “stuck out” too much.
6. The law-enforcement authorities acknowledged that strengthening the fight against racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism has not yet brought the desired results. A new impulse, which stimulates the activity of the law-enforcement agencies to combat anti-Semitism and xenophobia was the joint order by the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service of Russia “On improving the work to prevent and suppress activities of public and religious associations spreading the ideas of national hatred and religious extremism”. The preamble to the document stated that to date, “extremism has become one of the main factors endangering the national security of Russia”. Islamist extremism, according to the authors of the order, “becomes one of the phenomena that significantly affect the criminal situation in Russia.” It was noted that the work of the law-enforcement bodies in identifying and suppressing the activities of extremist associations is inadequate. This includes failures to use the powers provided by the law, poor implementation of agents in extremist organizations; work must be improved on information exchange; countering of the financing of extremists is weakly developed.
“The law-enforcement bodies underestimated the danger posed by extremist informal youth associations. ... Out of Sight is the problem of eliminating the very source of public danger. The law enforcement is not always consistent in detailed documentation of actions that may lead to extremism by representatives of youth organizations; prosecutions are not immediately started on the establishment of extremist societies. Prosecutors do not use enough appeals to ban illegal associations. Leaders and active members of the banned extremist organizations are rarely prosecuted for their participation in the activities of these associations. In some areas, the necessary system of countering extremism has not been developed yet, specific measures have not been outlined to ensure interaction and coordination among all concerned,” the document says.
To remedy the situation, the law-enforcement officials are to "consider it a top priority" the prevention, detection and suppression of public and religious associations whose aims or actions are extremist, drawing special attention to the issue of the financing of extremism, to improve the procedure of the preparation of materials for the courts with appeals to ban extremist organizations, to monitor the activities involved in combating extremism every six months and discuss their results. It was suggested to prepare guidelines to identify, prevent and combat extremist activities, to develop proposals to curb the extremist avidities in the Internet. Regional heads of the law enforcement were instructed to exchange information and cooperate in coordinating the fight against extremism, to intensify efforts in collecting and documenting information necessary to prepare court judgments on elimination and (or) the prohibition of extremist organizations, to take additional measures to block channels of financing of extremist organizations, to document the spreading of extremist ideas on websites, paying particular attention to the existence of literature which is on the federal list of extremist materials. The prosecutor asked to intensify supervision over implementation of laws on operational search, “focusing on its effectiveness, implementation, planning, and completeness and to use the results of operational search into individual extremists and their associations”. The heads were invited to appeal to court on each of the documented facts of the existence of extremist organizations to ban or suspend their activities and to strengthen their efforts to suppress the activities of xenophobic websites.
The resolution ordered to provide the most experienced prosecutors to maintain state prosecution, and to return cases for further investigation if “there is no information on measures taken to ensure full, complete and objective investigation of the circumstances of the crime, identifying and addressing the causes and conditions that contributed to its commission, establishing the involvement of the perpetrators in the activities of associations”.
We believe that the implementation of the measures listed in the joint order (resolution) will certainly make the fight against extremist crimes (including crimes motivated by anti-Semitism) more effective.