Vlad, The Lawmaker
There's something about Mother Russia that's quite different from most other countries, in its rigidly dogmatic authoritarianism. And the deep suspicion that people harbour over those not quite like they are. But of course Russia has no monopoly on those attributes, it's just that they're more overtly seen in action there.It appears to be a violence-prone country. Not quite in the same way as countries of the Middle East and Africa resulting from religious sectarian divisions and clan-tribal warfare, but there's an element of that, too. In any society there are conflicting values and priorities and solutions that are practised and institutionalized are often inimical to the expression of reasonable doubts and human rights.
Russia has garnered an unenviable record of mysterious murders among those who question the legitimacy of some of the decision-making of the regime. Courageous news reporters dedicated to unveiling the truth have a habit of succumbing to assassins' silencing. And these assassinations are not held to occur without encouragement from high-placed political elites.
Yet though there may be some indignation over the untimely dispatch of individuals for whom truth and honesty are paramount and which require publishing so that all may be aware of what is otherwise hidden from them, there does not appear to be much of an effort to protect reporters. There are official, indignant denials, and avowals of reprisals against those who foment this violence.
However, not, evidently much of an official government move to ensure that the judiciary too, is safe from extra-judicial punishment from ultra-right-wing skinheads, often called neo-Nazis. Who enjoy preying on vulnerable and detested minorities, ethnics and immigrants who the skinheads feel threaten the supremacy of Russian nationals.
Prominent human-rights lawyers are threatened and dispatched by Russian ultra-nationalists; "White Wolves" as they have affectionately named themselves. As are academics who specialize in the phenomenon of racist skinheads, their agendas and their crimes.
And of course, judges who sentence these dedicated killers and assassins to serve punishing prison terms for their crimes. The latest to be dispatched was a judge who was murdered mere moments after exiting his apartment for his workplace; a contract killing. The killer awaited the judge in the stairwell of his building, shot him fatally, collected the spent shells, and departed.
Another ultra-nationalist target meeting his fate for judging and sentencing murderers.
The judge's photograph and audio recordings of the most recent trials he was involved in representing two skinhead murder trials, were posted on websites, where this exponent and arbiter of justice was characterized as "a danger to all Russians". A danger no longer.
The murder was filmed on cellphones, then posted to far-right websites. The message has been disseminated that all officials are their targets until such time as the flow of immigration is halted. Emblematic of how seriously they take their cause was the dumping of the severed head of a Tajik migrant worker in a Moscow rubbish bin.
Vladimir Putin, where are you?
Labels: Human Rights, Political Realities, Russia
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, April 13, 2010
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