Woman’s reward for accidental killing stirs controversy in Russia
Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow
27 Jul 05
[Presenter] The story of Russian woman Aleksandra Ivannikova, who as
you all know killed a taxi driver trying to rape her about two years
ago, took a sensational twist today. The Izvestiya newspaper has
learnt that she received a reward of R50,000 [next to 1,750 dollars at
the current exchange rate] for the killing. The money was awarded to
Ivannikova by an organization called the Movement Against Illegal
Immigration, which has the [Russian] acronym PNI. This is how the
movement celebrated its third anniversary. [Passage omitted:
previously reported details of case]
I add that during the hearing the court fully upheld the civil suit
brought by the victim, the father of the killed [taxi driver Sergey]
Bagdasaryan. The court ordered the defendant [Ivannikova] to pay him
R200,000 as compensation for material and moral damages.
The Movement Against Illegal Immigration, which decided to give
Ivannikova the award for killing Bagdasaryan, believes that she rid
Russia of a rapist and therefore should be rewarded, not accused. This
should be done by the state, but as it has not done so, the movement
is rewarding Ivannikova for killing Bagdasaryan, an Armenian, the
movement’s PR coordinator, Aleksandr Belov, told our radio station in
an interview.
[Belov] As there aren’t any official awards, we thought that since
Ivannikova is from a not-very-well-off family and has a young child –
he is five months old – we should present her this award. And we gave
her the money that we had collected. She acted in self defence and as
a result of her action she rid Moscow of a rapist. Unfortunately,
particularly at the moment, over 50 per cent of the most serious
crimes are committed by immigrants from CIS countries and the far
abroad. These crimes are particularly linked to violence and we are
drawing attention to this fact.
[Presenter] Belov said that Ivannikova received the award [start of
quote] for all the suffering she has had to put up with from the
law-enforcement system over the last two years, end of quote.
Ivannikova’s husband, Oleg, confirmed that he and his wife had
received the money. The prize was a noble gesture which would have
been hard to turn down, Oleg Ivannikov said.
[Ivannikov] It wasn’t R50,00. Let’s say it was a certain sum. As far I
unde rstand, people just collected some money, regardless of whether
we wanted it, and gave it to Aleksandra. It wasn’t to pay off the
compensation or anything, it was just a kind gesture. It was awarded
for a brave act. I doubt whether it the organization has nationalist
roots. It is just spin from the media, not them. [Passage omitted:
Ivannikov says members of pro-Kremlin groups are in the movement,
presenter says they have denied this]
[Presenter] The award of the prize to Ivannikova is clearly a case of
inciting racial hatred, Seda Vermisheva, a member of the Russian Union
of Armenians, believes.
[Vermisheva] There were infringements from the very beginning of the
criminal case. A man has died but nobody knows what he did or didn’t
do. [Passage omitted] He can’t say anything in his defence. There are
no witnesses.
If she is given an award for this, the next criminal case should be
against this organization for inciting racial hatred. They themselves
will come under a criminal article.
It is amoral for her to accept money as a reward for killing a
person. At all times she should think about the fact that she killed a
person.
[Presenter] I remind you that Ivannikova has refused to comment.
The presentation of this award is not the only action by the
organization against illegal immigration in the Ivannikova case. The
movement threatened the parents of Bagdasaryan, who Ivannikova killed
in self defence, Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the Civil
Assistance organization, told our radio station.
[Gannushkina] Ivannikova killed this person accidentally and that is
evidently why she was acquitted [as received]. So it is pointless to
reward her for what the Movement Against Illegal Immigration wants
from us. She didn’t intend to do what happened.
The dead man’s father phoned me and said that the family is being
threatened by none other than this Movement Against Illegal
Immigration. I think that they represent more of a threat to Moscow
than the criminal diasporas that they talk about.
[Presenter] The speaker of the Moscow city duma, Vladimir Platonov,
effectively agrees with Gannushkina. He believes that the
law-enforcement agencies need to pay particular attention to movements
like the Movement Against Illegal Immigration.
[Platonov] If an organization appears that in this way stimulates self
defence and helps the victims of violence, then this can probably be
welcomed. But if an organization uses this to fight ethnic groups, it
is sad and, in my view, unacceptable.
There are violent people from all ethnic groups. When passing and
implementing laws the authorities have to show that all possible
efforts are being made to fight crime by all ethnic groups in order to
prevent the emergence of organizations that have goals which are
dangerous for a multi-ethnic state.
[Presenter] Immigration is beneficial for any state, Platonov
said. Workers coming from abroad are a boon for any country.
