Paul Goble
Vienna, April 27 – A mid-level official in the office of Russian President Vladimir Putin has finally responded to the open letter Russia’s Muslims published in “Izvestiya” on March 5 but dismissed the concerns they raised about the mistreatment of the country’s Islamic community as ill-informed and misplaced.
In a letter dated April 5 but posted on the Internet only today, M. Ostrovskiy, the deputy head of the Presidential administrations directorate for domestic policy, said that the matters raised in the “Izvestiya” letter were currently being reviewed by judicial officials (http://www.islam.ru/pressclub/islamofobia/otdaper/).
Stressing that the country’s courts “are independent and subordinate only to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and federal law,” Ostrovskiy said that if the Muslims who wrote the letter have “any concrete facts of the violation” of Russian law, they should communicate them to “law enforcement organs.”
Ostrovskiy’s dismissive tone continued: He suggested that Russia’s Muslims should “consider that in recent times there has been an increase in the number of cases when persons held responsible for criminally punishable actions who declare themselves ‘prisoners of conscience’ and ‘victims of persecution on a national or religious basis.’”
Such claims, the Presidential Administration official wrote, intended to provide a “defense” for what they have done, in part disorients society and forms non-objective public opinion. Moreover, they can “interfere with the review of cases and lead to judicial errors.”
He continued by suggesting that the authors of the open letter did not have their facts straight about the case of “ the ‘tearing down’ of the mosque in Astrakhan. It had not been torn down because it had not been built in the first place, since it violated local ordinances, a finding with which Central MSD head Talgat Tadzhuddin agreed.
And perhaps most dismissively of all for those Muslims who hoped for more from Putin, Ostrovskiy concluded his 400-word note with the following bureaucratic formulation: “We request,” he wrote, that you inform all those citizens who signed [the open letter] about the results of the review of your appeal.”
Friday, April 27, 2007
Window on Eurasia: Europe Seeks to Save Money by Reducing Human Rights Cases from Russia
Paul Goble
Vienna, April 27 – The European Court for Human Rights currently spends 22 percent of its budget – some 12.5 million euros -- to review more than 20,000 appeals by Russian citizens against their government, figures the Council of Europe and the European Commission hope to cut by providing additional training to Russian officials.
Hannah Junger, who heads the Council of Europe’s Office for Cooperation on Human Rights, told “Gazeta” that Europeans would like “as much as possible” to cut the number of cases coming from Russia by “resolving these problems at the national level” (http://www.kavkaz.memo.ru/printnews/news/id/1184994.html).
To that end, the paper reported, the Council of Europe and the European Commission plan to spend 1.9 million euros to expand judicial and legal training in Russia, something these two institutions have been actively involved in over the last few year.
Since 2004, they have organized 350 training exercises in Russia for 7500 judges, 100 seminars for 3,000 prosecutors, and 120 lectures for 1800 militia officers. And the Europeans plan to create by this fall a Russian-language computerized database on human rights law.
But despite all that, Junger continued, “the number of cases coming from Russia is constantly growing,” adding that she “thinks that this [increase] is connected with a definite level of knowledge both of Russian jurists and the staff of law enforcement organs.”
Russian human rights officials and lawyers, in contrast, fear that the growth in the number of such appeals to the European court reflects not only the ignorance of Russian judicial officials about international legal norms but also some disturbing trends in Russian jurisprudence.
Karina Moskalenko, a lawyer, told Moscow’s “Gazeta” that the growing number of cases reaching Strasbourg reflects not only “legal illiteracy” on the part of officials but also the fact that the entire Russian “legal system is based on charges made rather than the discovery of truth.”
One indication of that, she continued, is that “fewer than one percent of cases in Russian courts” result in something other than convictions. And as a result,
it is not surprising that absolutely innocent people finding themselves behind bars” are in a position to demonstrate their innocent to the European Court.
Thus, efforts by the Europeans to reduce the number of cases coming from Russia may save money but only at the cost of justice itself. This is especially likely to be the case in cases involving Chechens and other North Caucasians who regularly are abused by the Russian legal system, she said.
But the problems likely to arise from any reduction in possibilities for appealing beyond Moscow to Strasbourg will not be limited to them alone, Moskalenko concluded: It is simply not the case, she said, that “today’s precedents created by the European Court are being considered and fulfilled in Russia.”
Vienna, April 27 – The European Court for Human Rights currently spends 22 percent of its budget – some 12.5 million euros -- to review more than 20,000 appeals by Russian citizens against their government, figures the Council of Europe and the European Commission hope to cut by providing additional training to Russian officials.
Hannah Junger, who heads the Council of Europe’s Office for Cooperation on Human Rights, told “Gazeta” that Europeans would like “as much as possible” to cut the number of cases coming from Russia by “resolving these problems at the national level” (http://www.kavkaz.memo.ru/printnews/news/id/1184994.html).
To that end, the paper reported, the Council of Europe and the European Commission plan to spend 1.9 million euros to expand judicial and legal training in Russia, something these two institutions have been actively involved in over the last few year.
Since 2004, they have organized 350 training exercises in Russia for 7500 judges, 100 seminars for 3,000 prosecutors, and 120 lectures for 1800 militia officers. And the Europeans plan to create by this fall a Russian-language computerized database on human rights law.
But despite all that, Junger continued, “the number of cases coming from Russia is constantly growing,” adding that she “thinks that this [increase] is connected with a definite level of knowledge both of Russian jurists and the staff of law enforcement organs.”
Russian human rights officials and lawyers, in contrast, fear that the growth in the number of such appeals to the European court reflects not only the ignorance of Russian judicial officials about international legal norms but also some disturbing trends in Russian jurisprudence.
Karina Moskalenko, a lawyer, told Moscow’s “Gazeta” that the growing number of cases reaching Strasbourg reflects not only “legal illiteracy” on the part of officials but also the fact that the entire Russian “legal system is based on charges made rather than the discovery of truth.”
One indication of that, she continued, is that “fewer than one percent of cases in Russian courts” result in something other than convictions. And as a result,
it is not surprising that absolutely innocent people finding themselves behind bars” are in a position to demonstrate their innocent to the European Court.
Thus, efforts by the Europeans to reduce the number of cases coming from Russia may save money but only at the cost of justice itself. This is especially likely to be the case in cases involving Chechens and other North Caucasians who regularly are abused by the Russian legal system, she said.
But the problems likely to arise from any reduction in possibilities for appealing beyond Moscow to Strasbourg will not be limited to them alone, Moskalenko concluded: It is simply not the case, she said, that “today’s precedents created by the European Court are being considered and fulfilled in Russia.”
Window on Eurasia: Russia’s Muslims Seek Doubling of Their Haj Quota
Paul Goble
Vienna, April 27 – Russia’s government-organized Haj Council has asked Saudi Arabia to allow 40,000 Muslims from the Russian Federation to make the pilgrimage to Mecca next year, a figure that is more than twice the quota Russia now has under the existing formula.
Muslims on the Haj Council justified this request by noting that “Russia’s Muslims over the course of 70 years [of Soviet power] were deprived of the opportunity of making the haj, and the number of those who want to make the pilgrimage is increasing with each day” (http://www.religio.ru/news/14728_print.html).
Last year, some 19,000 Muslims from the Russian Federation went on the haj, up from approximately 12,000 the year before, and only 40 in 1990 at least officially, increases that reflect pent up demand, increased wealth, and better transportation (http://www.religio.ru/arch/12Jan2007/news/14103.html).
Because the Saudi government controls the Muslim holy places, it sets quotas for each country usually on the basis of a formula of one pilgrim per year for every 1,000 Muslims. Because Russian officials from President Vladimir Putin on down have generally said there are 20 million Muslims there, that works out to 20,000.
But because the numbers of Russia’s Muslims making the haj reached 19,000 last year, only a few hundred less than that, Moscow and Russia’s Muslims have decided to push for an adjustment. Acknowledging that there are more than 20 million Muslims in Russia would be difficult: justifying an increase on the basis of the Soviet past is easier.
In the past, the Saudis have adjusted quotas for various countries on the basis of negotiations and political pressure, and they are likely to do so in this case, although it is far from clear whether they will agree to the dramatic increase that Muslims in the Russian Federation, backed by Moscow, now seek.
Once the Saudis do set a national quota for the Russian Federation, Moscow’s Haj Council will set quotas for the Muslim communities in each of that country’s republics and regions, a process likely to involve intense political infighting not only among them but between Muslim regions and Moscow.
On the one hand, the more rapidly growing Muslim communities in Moscow and other major cities are likely to seek expanded quotas while those in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, the two republics which traditionally have sent the most, seem certain to seek even more haj slots.
And on the other, many in the Russian government will be inclined to favor Muslim communities in the traditionally moderate Middle Volga republics and to restrict the number of Muslims from the more radical North Caucasus who will be given permission to make the pilgrimage to Mecca.
But however all this works out, three other things are virtually certain. First, the actual numbers of Muslims from Russia who make the haj will be significantly larger than the quota because many of them travel abroad during the pilgrimage period without declaring that they will be in Mecca.
Second, Russia’s Muslims are certain to view Moscow’s willingness to back them up on this issue as yet another indication of their growing political cloud, something that may lead some of them to make additional demands not only about religious issue like the haj but on political ones as well.
And third, many non-Muslims in the Russian Federation are likely to look askance at this development, viewing it as a concession to a group that they do not believe should be getting this kind of support.
As a result, ever more non-Muslim Russians will share the view of Roman Silant’yev, the Orthodox Christian specialist on Islam, who writes in this month’s “Radonezh” that “Islam has become the most privileged religion of Russia” and seek to challenge that religion as a result (http://www.radonezh.ru/analytic/articles/?ID=2282).
UPDATE ON MAY 3: One reason why Moscow may be seeking to increase the Saudi haj quota for Russia’s Muslims is that last year, Daghestan and Chechnya combined for more than half of the total number of Russian Federation piligrims with some 5,000 people from each. If these two republics again send that many – and that is entirely likely -- Islamic communites elsewhere in Russia might find it very difficult to meet demand (http://www.religo.ru/news1437_print.html).
Vienna, April 27 – Russia’s government-organized Haj Council has asked Saudi Arabia to allow 40,000 Muslims from the Russian Federation to make the pilgrimage to Mecca next year, a figure that is more than twice the quota Russia now has under the existing formula.
Muslims on the Haj Council justified this request by noting that “Russia’s Muslims over the course of 70 years [of Soviet power] were deprived of the opportunity of making the haj, and the number of those who want to make the pilgrimage is increasing with each day” (http://www.religio.ru/news/14728_print.html).
Last year, some 19,000 Muslims from the Russian Federation went on the haj, up from approximately 12,000 the year before, and only 40 in 1990 at least officially, increases that reflect pent up demand, increased wealth, and better transportation (http://www.religio.ru/arch/12Jan2007/news/14103.html).
Because the Saudi government controls the Muslim holy places, it sets quotas for each country usually on the basis of a formula of one pilgrim per year for every 1,000 Muslims. Because Russian officials from President Vladimir Putin on down have generally said there are 20 million Muslims there, that works out to 20,000.
But because the numbers of Russia’s Muslims making the haj reached 19,000 last year, only a few hundred less than that, Moscow and Russia’s Muslims have decided to push for an adjustment. Acknowledging that there are more than 20 million Muslims in Russia would be difficult: justifying an increase on the basis of the Soviet past is easier.
In the past, the Saudis have adjusted quotas for various countries on the basis of negotiations and political pressure, and they are likely to do so in this case, although it is far from clear whether they will agree to the dramatic increase that Muslims in the Russian Federation, backed by Moscow, now seek.
Once the Saudis do set a national quota for the Russian Federation, Moscow’s Haj Council will set quotas for the Muslim communities in each of that country’s republics and regions, a process likely to involve intense political infighting not only among them but between Muslim regions and Moscow.
On the one hand, the more rapidly growing Muslim communities in Moscow and other major cities are likely to seek expanded quotas while those in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, the two republics which traditionally have sent the most, seem certain to seek even more haj slots.
And on the other, many in the Russian government will be inclined to favor Muslim communities in the traditionally moderate Middle Volga republics and to restrict the number of Muslims from the more radical North Caucasus who will be given permission to make the pilgrimage to Mecca.
But however all this works out, three other things are virtually certain. First, the actual numbers of Muslims from Russia who make the haj will be significantly larger than the quota because many of them travel abroad during the pilgrimage period without declaring that they will be in Mecca.
Second, Russia’s Muslims are certain to view Moscow’s willingness to back them up on this issue as yet another indication of their growing political cloud, something that may lead some of them to make additional demands not only about religious issue like the haj but on political ones as well.
And third, many non-Muslims in the Russian Federation are likely to look askance at this development, viewing it as a concession to a group that they do not believe should be getting this kind of support.
As a result, ever more non-Muslim Russians will share the view of Roman Silant’yev, the Orthodox Christian specialist on Islam, who writes in this month’s “Radonezh” that “Islam has become the most privileged religion of Russia” and seek to challenge that religion as a result (http://www.radonezh.ru/analytic/articles/?ID=2282).
UPDATE ON MAY 3: One reason why Moscow may be seeking to increase the Saudi haj quota for Russia’s Muslims is that last year, Daghestan and Chechnya combined for more than half of the total number of Russian Federation piligrims with some 5,000 people from each. If these two republics again send that many – and that is entirely likely -- Islamic communites elsewhere in Russia might find it very difficult to meet demand (http://www.religo.ru/news1437_print.html).
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