Minorities Under Siege: Hate Crimes and Intolerance in the Russian Federation

Recommendations  

In order to address the problem of racist violence in Russia, Human Rights First urges the respective Russian authorities to implement the following recommendations:

To President Vladimir Putin

Appoint a special commission or personal representative with the mandate to undertake a comprehensive investigation of the problem of racist violence and related intolerance in Russia, the findings of which should be made public within one year, and to propose a plan for combating such violence and intolerance at the national and local level.

To Russian political leaders and legislators:

React immediately in public statements to crimes of racist violence and other violent bias crimes, affirming that such acts will not be tolerated and following up to ensure that appropriate action is taken by law enforcement officials to take into account bias motivations in the investigation and prosecution of the crimes.

Respond to public statements by public officials at any level of government and by political leaders that incite racist violence and other bias crime by publicly condemning such statements.

Amend provisions of the Criminal Code defining crimes of violence and immediate threats of violence to include specific enhanced penalties for such crimes when bias motivation is an aggravating factor. (Adoption of the proposal voiced at a May 16, 2006 round table of the Committee of the State Duma on Security to amend article 213 (Hooliganism) to include punishment enhancements for such acts when committed with a racist or other discriminatory motive would be a positive step in this regard.) 

Narrow the definition of “extremist activity” to ensure that it is not overly broad and to ensure that it not be applicable to suppress the legitimate exercise of the rights of freedom of expression, opinion, and assembly as guaranteed under international human rights norms. (Such an amendment process could be undertaken in the course of the review of legislation on combating extremism recently undertaken by the Committee of the Russian State Duma on Civil, Criminal, Arbitrage and Procedural Legislation. Both law enforcement experts and members of civil society should be consulted in the course of this reform process.)

Instruct all public prosecutors on the necessity of a firm and dissuasive response directed in cases of racist offences and other bias crimes, to include seeking enhanced penalties for such offences to the full extent provided by law. 

Instruct prosecutors to issue regular and public reports on the outcomes of cases of racist violence and other bias crimes.

Establish a system for the monitoring and collection of statistics on hate crimes and their prosecution and for the regular publication of this data. Statistics should provide data disaggregated to distinguish the target group or groups affected.

Provide a mandate and appropriate resources to an official anti-discrimination body in line with Council of Europe recommendations (European Commission against Racism and Intolerance General Policy Recommendations No. 2 and No. 7). This body should provide oversight over the monitoring and reporting of hate crimes in combating this violence through the criminal justice system. Such a body must be mandated to work closely with the Ministry of the Interior and the General Prosecutors Office and other bodies concerned with the registration, investigation, and prosecution of hate crimes, but which currently do not regularly or systematically publish statistics or other detailed information on such crimes.

To Russian criminal justice officials:

Undertake a more systematic application of Article 63(1)(f) of the Criminal Code, a general provision for penalty enhancement for bias crimes, in those cases of violent crimes in which there is evidence of a bias motivation, but which are being prosecuted on the basis of other articles in the code that do not expressly provide for enhanced penalties in cases of bias motivation.

Undertake to systematically implement the laws in place dealing with hate crimes (articles 105, 111, 112, 117, 244, which contain express provisions to punish violent crimes motivated by hate).

Take steps to increase confidence in the prosecution of hate crimes by pro-actively and periodically informing the public as to progress in the investigations of such crimes. 

Take steps to increase confidence in minority communities by demonstrating a willingness to work more closely with their leaders and community-based organizations in the reporting and registration of hate crimes and on measures to provide equal protection for all under the law.