Mari people - victims of political revenge
05.03.05
Brussel / Bruxelles 2/3/2005, by Davyth Hicks and
Johan Haggman
 The
Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat and the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples
Organisation (UNPO) have reported that the Finno-Ugric Mari people of Russia
are currently suffering severe discrimination with reports of beatings
and deaths. The attacks were prompted by the Presidential elections in
December, in which the ethnic Mari put their support behind their own candidate,
Mikhail Dolgov. When the elections were won by incumbent Leonid
Markelov, officials in the republic began a campaign of intimidation
against the Mari.
Markelov made a reputation for himself for anti- Mari discrimination
during his previous four year term. Helsingin Sanomat reports that during
the Markelov presidency, beatings of opposition supporters with iron pipes
became routine and that these beatings have led to the deaths of at least
two journalists and one head of a printing house.
The Mari number about three-quarters of a million, with around 43 percent
of them living in Mari El, a formally autonomous republic within the Russian
Federation, south east of Moscow. Most others live in neighbouring regions.
They speak Volga-Finnic, a branch of the Finno-Ugric family of languages.
The way the election was run and the beatings are a clear violation
of the 1992 bilateral Treaty between Finland and the Russian Federation,
based on OSCE principles. Article 10 of the Treaty states that "the partners
of the Treaty shall support the Finnish and Finno-Ugric people and their
heritage in Russia and likewise those of Russian origin and their heritage
in Finland. They will protect their respective languages, culture and historical
monuments".
Helsingin Sanomat journalist, Mika Parkkonen, reported yesterday from
Mari El about several recent attacks on Mari people. These include the
recent beating of Radio Free Europe journalist Yelena Rogacheva,
and Vladimir Kozlov, chief editor of the international Finno-Ugric
newspaper Kudo+Kodu, and member of the World Congress of Finno-Ugric
Peoples.
Furthermore, other attacks on journalists and members of the opposition
have been reported. Three of the assaulted died. The local government has
done nothing to stop or charge anyone for these attacks, or to stem a recent
rise in anti-Mari discrimination.
Helsingin Sanomat explains how the regional government, run by the Moscow
born politician, started a vicious campaign against the Mari areas in which
his opponent, Mihail Dolgov, received more votes. Dolgov, a native Mari,
is a retired colonel from the army intelligence service.
Mr Jevgeni Jefremov, a lawyer working for the opposition, told
Helsingin Sanomat that "Markelovs actions are similar to those of the
Belarus president. Mari school directors and district government officials
have lost their jobs as a result of revenge in the areas where Markelov
did poorly in the elections. Hundreds of officials have been laid off without
reason during his presidency". As a consequence Jefremov lost his job in
the Constitutional Court of the Mari Republic recently.
The presidential elections were held on the 19th of December last year
and the problems of the Mari started as soon as the results were known.
Representatives from the Russian dominated regional government have threatened
to close down schools and local councils in the areas that voted overwhelmingly
for the opposition candidate Dolgov.
All school directors in the areas where Markelov lost were called to
the headquarters of the Mari El regional government. Six of the school
directors were asked to give an explanation for the bad electoral results
of the president. About a dozen school directors have been pressured to
sign their own resignation.
The school directors have also been asked to sack those teachers that
recommended that students parents vote for the opposition. If this directive
is executed it will lead to the sacking of up to one thousand Mari civil
servants, most of them Mari-speaking teachers. This would be an enormous
setback for Mari culture, according to Jefremov.
The Finno-Ugric network has launched an online
petition to protest about the current situation, so far it has 4,805
signatures including Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Vice-President of the Committee
on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, and Henrik Lax MEP.
There are around 761,000 Mari living in different regions. In Mari El
they make up 43% of the population while Russians make up 47%. Languages
in the Mari El republic are divided between Russian, Highland Mari and
Meadow or Lowland Mari.
Source: Eurolang
Vladimir Kozlov's photo from Helsingin
Sanomat International Edition
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