06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Continuing reports of pressure on members of Finno‑Ugric Mari ethnic group; unlike previous year no reports of attacks on Mari; in May 2005 European Parliament adopted resolution criticizing Russia for violating rights of Mari ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 20001]

"There continued to be reports of pressure on members of the Finno‑Ugric Mari ethnic group. The Moscow Helsinki Group and International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights reported in September that two Mari national activists might have been prosecuted for exercising their freedom of speech. One activist, Vitaliy Tanakov, who earlier in the year published a brochure about the Mari people and their religious beliefs, was charged with incitement to ethnic, racial, or religious enmity under the law, a conviction is punishable with heavy fines and up to four years' imprisonment. On December 25, he was convicted and sentenced to 120 hours of mandatory work, which was viewed by many as a symbolic sentence. A second activist, Nina Maksimova, faced similar charges for helping to distribute the brochure. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and Moscow Helsinki Group believed that the two cases were politically motivated, targeting the activists for their involvement in the Mari national movement.
Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of attacks on the Mari ethnic group.
In May 2005 the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticizing Russia for violating the rights of the Mari. According to press reports, in June 2005 the government blocked the release of a report by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that was critical of human rights abuses in the Republic of Mariy-El. "

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01.09.2006 - Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

Mari religious leader Tanakov charged with “incitement to ethnic, racial or religious enmity” after publishing brochure about the Mari people and its religious beliefs ("Mari National Activists Prosecuted for Exercising Freedom of Expression") [ID 16949]

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01.05.2006 - Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

Worrisome gaps in protection of minority rights of Finno-Ugric Mari in Republic Mari-El; Mari national activists subject to growing harassment, attack on activist Vladimir Kozlov in February 2005 ("Human Rights in the OSCE Region: Europe, Central Asia and North America, Report 2006 (Events of 2005)") [ID 15648]

"In recent years, freedom of expression has come under growing attack in Mari El and, as others challenging official policies, Mari national activists have been subject to growing harassment. Involved in peaceful efforts to promote the rights of the Mari minority, members of the Mari national movement have been depicted as “nationalists” bent on overthrowing the regime in state-controlled media and have been the targets of e.g. intimidation, arrests, criminal prosecution, eviction, dismissal and violent attacks. Pressure against Mari activists and other opponents further intensified after the presidential elections held in the republic in December 2004, in which the national movement campaigned for the major Mari opposition candidate. On 7 February, Vladimir Kozlov, Chair of Mer Kanash, member of the Consultative Committee of the World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples and chief editor of the international Finno-Ugric newspaper Kudo+Kodu, was attacked on his way to work. Three unknown people approached Kozlov from behind and repeatedly struck him in the head with pipe-like metal objects. They further kicked him as he fell down on the ground. As a result of the attack, Kozlov sustained life-threatening injuries, which required emergency treatment in hospital. By the end of 2005, the investigation into the attack had not yielded any results."

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08.03.2006 - Source: US Department of State

Members of the Finno-Ugric Mari ethnic group were subjected to attacks ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005") [#46144],  [ID 11428]

"Members of the Finno-Ugric Mari ethnic group were subjected to attacks. In late May a website reported that a group of 30 Russian skinheads beat up 15 leading Mari cultural figures in the republic's capital, Yoshkar-Ola. Mari opposition figures claimed that officials of the Mari-El Republic had instigated the attacks through the extremist Russian National Unity organization. On August 27, unidentified assailants attacked Vasiliy Petrov, chairman of the Youth Organization of Finno-Ugric Peoples, in his home village in Mari-El, according to the Information Center of Finno-Ugric Peoples. In May the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticizing Russia for violating the rights of the Mari. According to press reports, Russia in June blocked the release of a report by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that was critical of human rights abuses in the Republic of Mari-El."

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07.07.2005 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Karachai-Cherkessia: Abaza minority group took over local parliament building to protest at what they say is forced assimilation; several policemen guarding the building were injured in incident ("New Dispute Erupts in Karachai-Cherkessia") [#33765],  [ID 11429]

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02.04.2004 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Afghan asylum seeker killed in a racially-motivated attack in Moscow ("Asylum seeker killed in Moscow; Ingush camp for Chechens closed") [#21067],  [ID 11831]

"The UN refugee agency has expressed concern about the latest in a string of violent attacks on asylum seekers in Moscow. [...]

UNHCR has expressed "deep regret" over the death of Afghan asylum seeker Abdul Wase Abdul Karim on Wednesday. In what appears to have been a racially-motivated attack, he was beaten up on March 25 by skinheads wielding metal bars in a metro station in south Moscow. He died in hospital six days later, without ever regaining consciousness.
[...]
Karim, a member of the Afghan Tajik minority, arrived in the Russian Federation in May 1998 after fleeing the Taliban regime in Herat. He registered with UNHCR in May 2000, and received a "pre-registration" number with the Moscow Migration Service, but did not manage to enter the national refugee status determination (RSD) procedure before his death.
[...]
Karim's murder is the latest in a series of violent attacks on asylum seekers in Moscow. In September 2001, Angolan asylum seeker Massa Mayoni was killed in a similar attack. Last August, an Ethiopian asylum seeker was injured in another attack that appeared to be racially-motivated. Other less serious assaults on asylum seekers have often gone unreported.
[...]"

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