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“A group of 30 Russian skinheads beat up fifteen musicians
and leading cultural figures leaving a concert of Mari music in republic’s
capital city of Yoshkar-Ola,” said Estonian MEP Tunne Kelam. “The
Russian skinheads said they did not like songs performed in the Mari language,
started offending the artists and all of them, including women, were beaten
unmercifully,” continued Kelam. He alleges the attackers were instigated
by local administration and were promised both immunity and rewards for doing
so.
"The Finno-Ugric Mari people are currently suffering severe
discrimination," said Liberal MEP István Szent-Iványi. Of
around 750,000 Mari some 45 percent live in what was once an autonomous republic
of the Russian Federation called Mari El, to the south east of Moscow. A high
percentage of Mari also live in adjoining regions. "Recently, attacks,
beatings and killings have been reported. The targets are journalists and opposition
leaders such as Yelena Rogacheva and Vladimir Kozlov,” explained Szent-Iványi.
“What is more disgusting is that the regional government, run by a Moscow-born
politician, is inactive and completely indifferent to these serious violations
of human rights.”
On 12 May, the European Parliament adopted a joint resolution
on the breaches of human rights and democracy in the Mari Republic (Mari El)
of the Russian Federation. Co-signed by Kelam, with Hungarian MEP György
Schöpflin and German Bernd Posselt, the resolution was denounced by Mari
Republic authorities. “Less than 72 hours after the latest beatings, the
President of the Republic, Leonid Markelov arranged a declaration by local officials
against the Maris and their foreign supporters,” said Kelam.
In its resolution, the European Parliament calls on Russian
local and federal authorities "to respect their obligations under international
law, and to take adequate steps to facilitate the practical implementation of
the provisions of the State Constitution and other legislation relating to the
maintenance and development of minority languages and cultures".
Speaking a variant in the Finno-Ugric family of languages,
Volga-Finnic, Mari have received support from Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian
organizations. In 1992, a bilateral treaty between Finland and Russia was signed
guaranteeing support for " ... the Finnish and Finno-Ugric people and their
heritage in Russia and likewise those of Russian origin and their heritage in
Finland. They will protect their respective languages, culture and historical
monuments."
During presidential elections at the end of 2004, Mari fielded
their own candidate, Mikhail Dolgovya, but lost to incumbent regional president
Leonid Markelov. Current abuse, after Mari support for opposition candidate
Dolgovya during the presidential elections of December 2004, includes the beating
of Yelena Rogacheva, a Radio Free Europe journalist, and the editor-in-chief
of Finno-Ugric newspaper Kudo+Kodu, Vladimir Kozlov. During Markelov's period
in power at least two journalists and a head of publishing house have been killed.
Source: Euro-reporters
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