Skinheads Kill a Romani Child and Injure Others During Attacks in Russia
7 February 2004
On the afternoon of October 5, 2003, three racist hooligans attacked Mr Alexander Klein, a Romani activist from the northwestern Russsia city of Pskov, near a market, according to the St Petersburg-based non-governmental organisation Memorial. As reported by Memorial, The attackers insulted Mr Klein, calling him "black ass", then beat him, breaking on of his fingers and causing abrasions and bruising all over his body. The attack was reportedly stopped by a plainclothed police officer who refused to take the attackers into custody but offered to take Mr Klein home. Soon thereafter, Mr Klein went to a local hospital for medical treatment but was refused because the doctor was reportedly in a "bad mood" and did not want to assist him. After Mr Klein returned home, a group of men visited his home and threatened him with violence should he file a complaint with the police. Mr Klein therefore did not pursue the case with the police out of fear, according to Memorial.
Earlier, during a September 21, 2003, skinhead attack on a Romani camp in St Petersburg, a 6-year-old Romani/Gypsy girl from Tajikistan was killed and a 5-year-old and an 18-month-old were seriously injured, according to the St Petersburg daily newspaper The St Petersburg Times of September 30, 2003. Police spokesperson Mr Mark Nazarov was quoted in the daily as having stated that the skinheads, armed with an axe, a knife and a metal rod, ambushed two women and the children in front of a nearby store. The attack was reportedly part of ongoing terror by the skinheads of about 45 Roma/Gypsies from Tajikistan settled next to the Dachnoye railway station. The skinheads reportedly demanded money or departure from the Roma/Gypsies. On November 9, 2003, Memorial informed the ERRC that police were investigating several individuals on suspicion of murder and racial hatred, in accordance with Articles 105(1) and 282 of the Russian Criminal Code, respectively. Mr Nazarov also reported police had detained the Roma/Gypsy camp residents after the attack.
Some were reportedly sent via train to Arkhangelsk on September 28, 2003, according to the daily. Memorial estimated the number of Roma expelled from the city during the action to be approximately 50. At the end of October 2003, a number of Russian human rights organisation, including Memorial, sent a letter to Mayor Valentina Matvienko of St Petersburg, expressing concern about the incident and racist attacks against foreigners generally, as well as the failure of police to investigate such crimes, and called on the Mayor Matvienko to take all actions possible. As of November 9, there had been no response to the letter. On December 17, 2003, Memorial informed the ERRC that several skinheads had been charged in connection with the incident.
Earlier, on July 26, 2003, the International Romani Union (IRU) reported that on July 11, 2003, a cemetery in the city of Volgograd in southwestern Russia was desecrated, as reported by the Volgograd-based daily newspaper Oblastnye Vesti. A number of Romani graves were destroyed in the process. The daily reported that local police suspect a group of skinheads to have perpetrated the act. According to IRU, Mr Yakov Yegorov, a Romani man from Volgograd, reported the incident to the local police. The police reportedly informed Mr Yegorov that, even if the perpetrators were to be arrested, they would likely be charged with only vandalism. This implies that the racial motivation behind the criminal act will not be taken into consideration in front of a possible future court hearing. Information on the situation of Roma/Gypsies in Russia is available on the ERRC's Internet website at: www.errc.org.
(ERRC, International Romani Union, Memorial, Oblastnye Vesti, The St Petersburg Times)
Written Comments by the European Roma Rights Centre concerning Serbia to the Human Rights Council, within its Universal Periodic Review, for consideration at its 29th session (January-February 2018).
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