MOSNEWS, Russia
June 4 2005
Support Picket Overrun by Intolerance Mongers and Photo-Op Seekers
Anastasiya Lebedev
MosNews
At the picket in support of Alexandra Ivannikova, people held signs
saying that Alexandra did the right thing, that courts are corrupted,
and that people have a right to self-defense. At a support meeting,
that was to be expected. Also there were party banners, party armbands,
and nationalist speeches. Unfortunately, in contemporary Russia,
that was also to be expected.
On Thursday, June 2, a Moscow court convicted Ivannikova of voluntary
manslaughter (killing in the heat of passion) of Sergey Bagdasarian,
a gypsy cab driver who had tried to rape her in December 2003. She
was given a two-year suspended sentence and ordered to pay 206
thousand rubles (approx. $7360) to the family of the deceased.
Ivannikova’s lawyer’s efforts to have the woman’s actions re-classified
as self-defense failed. The court session was closed by plaintiffs’
(the family of the deceased) request. On June 3, a picket in the
center of Moscow was held to protest the sentence.
The picket, as most recent pickets and rallies, became a political
soiree of sorts. All the regulars of Russian street politics dropped
in to say a word, hold a sign, wave a flag, or get some attention
by pointing out how their particular movement or party would fight
for the prevention of such cases. Ultra-nationalist LDPR Youth,
nationalist Rodina youth, pro-regime Eurasian Youth Movement all flew
their standards, while their liberal counterparts from Yabloko youth
chose not to display party affiliation, but were there as a team and
a statement anyway.
Other movements who’d been following Ivannikova’s case included DPNI
(Movement Against Illegal Immigrants) and groups arguing for the
right to bear arms. DPNI, which likes to blame ethnic non-Russians
for all that goes wrong in the motherland, has been hot and heavy on
the case because Bagdasarian was an ethnic Armenian.
The majority of the picketers looked rather lost – they were quite good
at posing for press and amateur photographers abundant at the event,
but other than chanting discordantly and half-heartedly “Fair trial
for an honest person” and “Acquit Ivannikova,” they weren’t quite
sure what to do. When asked how they learned about Ivannikova’s case,
most responded that they had learned about it online. Ivannikova’s
lawyer, who blogged about the case throughout the trial, was the one
to initially attract attention to the case. Because the trial was
closed – no press or public admitted – his story is what Ivannikova’s
supporters go on. They believe that the court was either pressured
or paid off by Bagdasarian’s family. The picket livened up when
ultra-nationalists got up to speak.
Radical nationalists have been making ethnicity a central issue
in the case. Alexander Belov from DPNI barked on and on about the
right of all women to carry knives, about Russian women being raped,
and Russia being “our” country. Aleksey, another DPNI member in the
picketing crowd, first stated that the movement would have exactly
the same position had the young woman been threatened by an ethnic
Russian, then added: “The national aspect is important. You-know-how
come here and rape.”
Their speeches definitely appealed to the few seniors who had come
after hearing an announcement on Narodnoye, or People’s Radio, as
they had explained. An elderly couple who introduced themselves as
Pyotr and Adelaida said they’d come to the “protest the stranglehold
of the foreign-born. Yes, the stranglehold of the foreign-born. And to
support Ivannikova, but most importantly, to protest the stranglehold
of the foreign-born.”
Looking at the party reps wrapped in banners, Nikolay, a picketer
who’s in a youth political movement but who came privately, said,
“I believe that this is publicity that exploits someone’s misfortune.”
Natalya Kholmogorova, one of the picket’s organizers, disagreed: “This
is a necessary evil. Political activists will publicize themselves
by the means of this case, but if they manage to help Alexandra,
that’s good.” Andrei, another independent picketer who came to
express his stance on self-defense and punishment for rape (which he
believes should be death), said, shaking his head, as Belov ranted:
“I didn’t expect overt fascism.”
After Belov’s tirades, more moderate speakers stepped up, demanding
the acquittal of Ivannikova and even an award for her courageous
self-defense. However, the liberal party picketers left after the DPNI
address, unwilling to appear to be supporting the ultra-nationalist
position. A while later, the picket drifted apart as activists folded
up banners and took off armbands. What could have been made into a
poignant case for self-defense and women’s rights was little more than
a photo-op for Russia’s nationalists and a soap-box for intolerance.
In December 2003, after getting into Bagdasarian’s car for a ride
home, Ivannikova stabbed him in the leg with a kitchen knife which
she has carried with her since the age of 16, when she had been
first assaulted. She accidentally ruptured an artery, after which
Bagdasarian bled to death.