Hate News: Bigotry Roundup September 17, 2007

From this week’s Former Soviet Union Bigotry Monitor:

ROMA FAMILY SHOT DEAD. On September 10, a group of masked men burst into the home of a Roma family named Lyalikov in the town of Ordzhonikidze, Ingushetia, demanded money, and then shot to death a middle-aged couple, their two adult sons, and an unspecified number of children, according to a report by the Russian news web site Gazeta.ru. Police investigators told the press that ethnic hatred motivated the crime.

Other recent murders that have taken place in Ordzhonikidze include ethnic Russian and Korean families. Observers suggest that the killings are intended to discourage the return of ethnic Russians who fled the violence of the two Chechen wars.

PASTOR’S SON BEATEN FOR NOT PARTICIPATING IN ORTHODOX PRAYER. The son of a Protestant pastor was attacked in school by classmates following his non-participation in a Russian Orthodox prayer held on the first day of school, according to a September 6 report by the Slavic Law and Justice Center, which monitors religious freedom issues in Russia.

Pastor Aleksey Perov of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints Church (an offshoot of Mormonism) in the village of Gribanovsky told the Center that on the first day of school, a Russian Orthodox priest visited the first grade classroom that his son David attends and led the children in a prayer. Some of the other children noticed that David did not participate in the prayer, and they beat him up twice during recesses. Perov, who heads a small congregation of about 20 members, told the Center that many of his fellow village residents view his church with suspicion, calling him a “sect member” and a “traitor” because he is not Orthodox. He added that the public school will soon add Orthodox theology courses to its curriculum, a policy that has been implemented in five other regions of the country….

RACISTS ATTACK MIXED-RACE BOYS. A group of youths attacked two mixed-race boys in Ryazan while screaming “Sieg Heil!” according to a September 6 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center. The previously unreported attack took place on May 22. The older victim lost consciousness after one of the youths shattered a bottle on his head. The attack ended when a woman passing by screamed for help and the youths fled. The victims were not robbed, increasing the likelihood that the assault was a hate crime. The victims alleged that a local hospital refused to treat them. They later reported the incident to the police. There have been no arrests…

ANTISEMITIC MESSAGES SCRAWLED ON JEWISH SCHOOL. Vandals scrawled antisemitic messages on a Jewish school in Ukraine, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported on September 10. Students at the ORT Aleph Jewish Gymnasium in Zaporozhe returned to school last week to find “Jews, get out” and “Death to Jews” spray-painted on the building. The incident was reported to the police. About 20,000 Jews live among Zaporozhe’s 800,000 residents. The ORT school has some 300 students.

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