Criminalization of russian antifascists

ANTIFA INFO-BULLETIN, Number 176

* ANTIFASCIST INFORMATION BUREAU - RUSSIA *
E-mail: action...@usa.net
Web: www.aha.ru/~antifa (in Russian)
- Thursday, 6 August 1998 -

-----
_________________________________________________________________

CRIMINALIZATION OF RUSSIAN ANTIFASCISTS
_________________________________________________________________

* * *

Governmental attempts to criminalize antifascist activists
is the usual thing in Russia. Thus, about two months ago regional
criminal police service of Tomsk (West Siberea) raided the house
of Nikolai Karpitsky, PhD in philosophy, the chairman of
Antifascist Youth Action (AYA) regional branch and member of
nation-wide AYA Coordinating Board. All paper materials (such as
leaflets, posters, flyers, financial documents etc.) were
confiscated, and the activity of AYA was claimed as "anti-state"
and criminal. Now the regional police authorities try to start
the "terrorism" case.

It is only the most recent accident. The history of nation-
wide AYA movement also started with a criminal case, inspired by
State Duma (Russian lower legislative chamber), which asked the
General Prosecutor's Office to investigate the "act of vandalism
over the national symbol". In fact, during the first nation-wide
AYA conference in March 3, 1996, the delegates entering the
Conference Hall stepped over the two red banners laying on the
floor - the Nazi flag and Soviet flag. Fortunately, the criminal
case was closed without any prosecution to antifascists.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/misc.activism.progressive/ivNE7-Bbing