NEWS

Russian Federation: Threats against human rights defender, Mr. Konstantin Baranov

Konstantin Baranov monitors xenophobia and hate crimes for a project led by the Moscow Helsinki Group and Youth Human Rights Movement in the Rostov region, one of the most popular places for neo-Nazi gatherings in the Russian Federation. Front Line is deeply concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Konstantin Baranov in the current context of attacks against human rights defenders in the Russian Federation.

On 15 July 2009, Konstantin Baranov's name, personal address, homepage and mobile phone number were published on the web page of one of the members of 'Slavic Union', an ultra right-wing movement, with an appeal to ”all right-wing people of Rostov” to respond to Baranov ”adequately”.

Since then, Konstantin Baranov has received multiple phone threats and the web page of Young Europe suffered from a spam attack.

On 9 July 2009, Konstantin Baranov had addressed a letter to the Prosecutor's office of the Rostov region requesting them to issue a warning of extremism concerning one of the city's night clubs which hosts ultra right-wing musical groups.

On 17 July 2009, despite the threats against him, Konstantin Baranov raised the problem of neo-Nazi music groups in Rostov in the presence of representatives of the Ministry of the Interior, the regional Prosecutor's office and the Federal Security Department in a round table discussion on “Problems of extremism and criminality of young people.”

Despite Konstantin Baranov's petitions, no steps have been taken by the authorities to prevent concerts by music groups whose songs contain racial and national hatred, and whose performances serve as meeting places for neo-Nazis from different Russian regions.

Front Line believes that the threats against Konstantin Baranov are linked to his peaceful work in denouncing and combating xenophobia and racism in the Rostov region. Human rights defenders who work on xenophobia issues in the Russian Federation are particularly targeted and the threats against them should be taken into particular consideration and thoroughly investigated.