As first reported by AKIpress (in Russian here), a number of Kyrgyz social organizations have banded together and issued a fairly strongly-worded statement calling on Russian authorities to do more to protect the lives of Kyrgyz citizens living and working in Russia. This comes in the wake of four brutal January murders of Kyrgyz citizens in Russia, all of them apparently racially motivated and conducted either by neo-fascist groups or fascist sympathizers.The four killings occurred between the 12th and the 29th of January in Moscow and Saint Petersburg and were characterized by a common senseless brutality, with victims being stabbed upwards of twenty times. AKIpress reports on the disturbing details of one of the killings:
On the 13th of January 2008, 23 year old Kyrgyz citizen Kanybek Jusupov was viciously attacked and killed in the city of Pushkin [approximately 25 kilometers from Saint Petersburg]. He was stabbed many times, including being disemboweled, and his throat was cut. Before this happened, according to press clippings, a five-pointed star was carved into his chest.
To anyone familiar with the recent history of ethnic minorities in Russia, this recent spate of violence against Kyrgyz citizens, even given its disturbingly vicious character, is no great surprise; what is more newsworthy is that the social infrastructure of the Kyrgyz community is standing up for its rights and demanding action from the Russian authorities. Invoking the ghosts of the thousands upon thousands of Kyrgyz killed fighting for Russia’s freedom during the Second World War, the two-page letter presents a poetic argument for Russian society’s need to confront the neo-fascist demon growing within its midst – a demon that is emerging fewer than 65 years after the Red Army marched triumphantly into Berlin to end the reign of the Third Reich.
Unfortunately, less than a week after this request was made, the body of the year’s fifth Kyrgyz victim of apparent ethnic violence was discovered in southeast Moscow, where he had succumbed to over 30 stab wounds (News report here in Russian|English). The short time frame between these murders, combined with their consistent degree of brutality and sensationalism, tends to indicate that no matter what Russian authorities are saying in public, Russia is failing to take the issue of a resurgent neo-fascist movement seriously.
Also, while the Kyrgyz Prime Minister and Kyrgyz interest groups are vigorously lobbying for vicious murders perpetrated against them to even be investigated, Russian law enforcement authorities seem to have little difficulty finding the resources to round up Moscow street sweepers who are allegedly working illegally (In Russian here). The penalties for those rare people convicted of murders and other hate crimes obviously based on ethnicity seem designed to coddle rather than castigate, even though Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code specifically forbids “murder motivated by national, racial, or religious hatred.”
To this point, the work of both Kyrgyz social organizations and the Kyrgyz government has done little, if anything, to stem the flow of blood from their brothers and sisters who are living and working in Russia. Perhaps there is little if anything that they can do as long as Russian authorities continue to pursue a schizophrenic policy towards immigrant labor; first pushing regulations to ease restrictions on foreign workers (Russian|English), then trying to legislate them out of one of their main occupations and ignoring blatant, public attacks on foreigners. On the other hand, it is possible that even a semi-united front of CIS nations, particularly those with large populations of labor migrants working in Russia, would be able to take a strong enough position to at least make the Russian authorities do a more credible job of investigating and punishing such vicious and all too prevalent crimes. Certainly, the February 5th arrest of four skinheads alleged to have been involved in the murder of at least 20 foreigners is a small step in the right direction, but a much more concerted and sustained push by Russian law enforcement bodies will be necessary to try and bring the problem of racist violence in Russia under control.
Great article.
The Russian authorities’ response has been shamefully muted for a long time and is not helped by legislation whereby unless an attack is explicitly race-related (i.e. whilst the attack is taking place the attacker shouts racist slogans, for example) then it doesn’t necessarily count as a racist attack, just “violent crime”. Willfully blind doesn’t begin to describe it.
By: CXW on February 12, 2008
at 11:36 pm
so continuing the subject of ethnic minorities in Moscow, there were several issues regarding the strike of Kyrgyz people working in Moscow clearing companies on labor abuse. According to them, their Moldovian manager (also ethnic minority, by the way) abused his authorities and forced them to work on different conditions than it was initially signed in the contract. So that was the reason why 50 Kyrgyz workers went on strike on February 18, 2008 and demanded the managers of the “Real” clearing company to follow the initial contract.
As 24.KG published information yesterday, according to the Ambassador Attokurov, the confict has been resolved. On February 19, 2008 “Real” clearing company fired its Moldovian manager. As Kyrgyz migrants admitted, by firing their manager, the company management has accepted the rights of migrant workers.
By: tuliprevolution on February 20, 2008
at 9:59 am