The Climax of Political Terror in Mari El
07.02.05
An unprecedented hunting against the leaders of political opposition
in the Republic of Mari El, Russia, has reached its climax. Vladimir Kozlov,
chief editor of the international Finno-Ugric newspaper Kudo+Kodu,
Member of the Consultative Committee of the World Congress of Finno-Ugric
Peoples and leader of the all-Russian movement of Mari people Mer Kangash,
was attacked and severely beaten yesterday. In
this connection, the Council of Mari El Association in Moscow has issued
the following statement.
To:
all members of the all-Russian movement Mer Kangash
all representatives of Finno-Ugric peoples
the Consultative Committee of the World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples
Statement
1. We evaluate the attack against the leader of All-Mari Council, Member
of the Executive Board of the Consultative Committee of the World Congress
of Finno-Ugric Peoples, journalist and chief editor Vladimir Kozlov as
a dishonest provocation marking the climax of political terror in the republic.
We are indignant at the state of law and order in Mari El and at the lack
of visible results in investigation by Valery Krasnov, Minister of Internal
Affairs of Mari El, and Georgy Mikhoparkin, Attorney General of Mari El,
of similar cases of slaughter and threats by physical action against members
of political opposition.
2. In connection with this incident we consider it expedient to immediately
hold an extraordinary session of the executive committee of the the all-Russian
movement of Mari people, the All-Mari Council. An attack on a leader of
a movement challenges the idea of democracy and is incompatible with the
observance of legitimate rights of citizens in the territory of Mari El.
3. We recommend the Executive Board of the Consultative Committee of
the World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples, headed by Mr. Valeri Markov,
to immediately visit the capital city of Mari El and to take steps to initiate
a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the attack against a
member of the Executive Board. The cynicism and the confidence in their
impunity demonstrated by those who committed the attack is a dangerous
sign of violation of the internationally recognised human rights in a republic
of the Russian Federation.
4. We demand from Mr. Valery Komissarov, Mrs. Natalya Dementyeva and
Vice-Speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Mr. Aleksander
Torshin who are representatives of Mari El in the State Duma, as well as
Mr. Sergey Kiriyenko, Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of
the Russian Federation in the Volga Federal District, to initiate steps
for establishing the constitutional order in Mari El and for examining
by the State Duma of the Russian Federation, as a separate issue at its
session, the state of national security in the Republic of Mary El and
the policy of genocide against the indigenous population of Mari El conducted
by the administration of Mari El headed by its President Leonid Markelov.
5. We appeal to all non-governmental organisation of Finno-Ugric peoples
based in the territory of the Russian Federation to initiate actions for
the support of the Mari peoples movement Mer Kangash, and to address
the United Nations Organisation and the Council of Europe with a joint
statement on the situation of lawlessness in Mari El and the persecution
for their opinion, during the International Decade of Indigenous Peoples
of the World, of those peoples representatives who speak for protection
of the rights of indigenous peoples.
An attack on the prominent public figure shall not remain unpunished.
The political terror unleashed in Mari El affects the interests of the
entire Finno-Ugric population of Russia and the international Finno-Ugric
community. The bloody bacchanalia in Mari El must be stopped!
Council of the Mari El Association, Moscow, 05.02.2004
Source: Information Centre of
Finno-Ugric Peoples
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