Update: Police Chief Reports Fifty-Two Hate Crimes This Year

nbutkevich — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:17:00 -0700

Moscow's chief of police Vladimir Pronin, who has a consistent record of laying down neo-Nazi hate crimes in his city, reported that his police force has investigated 52 crimes "committed on the basis of ethnic hatred" so far this year, according to an April 25, 2008 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center. General Pronin expressed his concern over the rise in the number of hate crimes, but at the same time assured the audience at a public meeting that, "Today I can state with full responsibility that we have blocked a wave of such crimes in the city, this process is halted and will not increase in the future" ("На сегодняшний день могу со всей ответственностью заявить, что волну таких преступлений в городе удалось блокировать, это процесс остановлен, и дальнейшего развития нет."). Strangely, out of these 52 crimes, Moscow prosecutors have only brought hate crimes charges in four of the cases.

Hypocrisy in Moscow

Nickolai Butkevich — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:27:39 -0700

On the one hand, Moscow's mayor Yuri Luzhkov publicly condemns xenophobia and last week called for harsher laws against hate speech and hate crimes, saying on April 15 that: "The government must ensure the tranquility of all people regardless of the color of their skin... Xenophobia is a disease that may eventually endanger this country. The main reason for such crimes is the absence of a real punishment." At the same time, his subordinates running the city's law enforcement agencies impudently contradict him and President Putin by denying that racist violence is a problem.

Coalition Against Hate - Hypocrisy in Moscow - Comments

Update: Police Chief Reports Fifty-Two Hate Crimes This Year

Hypocrisy in Moscow