SUSPECTS AND CRIMINALS DEPRIVED OF NATIONALITY

Kommersant, Russia
Dec 21 2006

An unscheduled session of the Moscow City Duma will consider
introducing a legislative initiate into the State Duma to prohibit
mentioning the ethnicity of suspected or accused criminals and victims
of crimes in the media and on computer networks. The United Russia
Party is proposing the amendment to the law "On the Media" because
it holds that the mention of such information inflames ethnic strife.

The drafters of the amendment say that, because only a citizen himself
can define and indicate his ethnic membership under the Constitution
of the Russian Federation, such indications in the media "without
sufficient bases can be seen as unsubstantiated information and a
violation of civil rights." Leader of the United Russia faction in
the Moscow Duma Andrey Metelsky also mentioned that that information
could lead to ethnic strife.

The opposition in the Moscow Duma reacted to the initiative without
enthusiasm. "If crime has an ethnic element, it makes no sense to hide
it," commented Communist faction leader Vladimir Ulas. Yabloko faction
coordinator in the Moscow Duma Sergey Mitrokhin told Kommersant that
"often the ethnicity of a criminal can be guessed from his name or
photograph. This can be taken to the absurd. As a result, a journalist
might suffer for objective coverage of a situation."

Representatives of ethnic organizations in Moscow took a different
view. Samvel Grigoryan, chairman of the board of the National-Cultural
Autonomy of Armenians of Moscow, approved of the initiative, stating
that such information "enflames ethnic strife whether intentionally or
not." Tofik Melikov of the Ochag Azeri cultural center saw unequal
treatment of Slavs and non-Slavs in the press "with the goal of
forming a negative image of certain nationalities."

Alexander Belov, leader of the Movement against Illegal Immigration,
was critical of the initiative, saying that it "treats the symptom, not
the cause." "There are peoples who commit more crimes than others," he
added. "There are a lot of societies with no media at all, somewhere in
Africa, but peoples there hate each other and cut each other up too."