Election result brings wave of political reprisals against indigenous intelligentsia of Mari Republic

11.03.05

By Mika Parkkonen 

      In the Volga region, considered to be the original birthplace of the Finno-Ugric peoples, a wave of ethnic persecution is underway, targeting the indigenous Mari people of Russia's Mari Republic. As a result, many ethnic Mari civil servants have lost their jobs, and a number of critical journalists have been brutally beaten.
      
The Mari, or Cheremis, who are related to the Finns, were largely opposed to the re-election of President Leonid Markelov in the elections in December. Markelov, who had been in office for four years, is a supporter of hard line politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky. He has been carrying out a policy of repression against the indigenous people. In the elections, he was re-elected already in the first round, and members of the Mari opposition say that the election was blatantly fraudulent.
      After the elections, the administration of Markelov, a native of Moscow who does not speak the Mari language, launched a series of reprisals against areas where a majority of the votes went to the opposition candidate Mikhail Dolgov, an ethnic Mari and a retired colonel in Russian army intelligence.
      "The actions of Markelov are reminiscent of those of the President of Belarus. In areas where Markelov did poorly, dozens of Mari head teachers and civil servants in the regional administration lost their jobs as a result of vengeance taken by the President. During his time in office, hundreds of Mari officials have been fired on false pretenses", says opposition civil lawyer Yevgeni Yefremov, who lost his job in the Republic's constitutional court.
      
Presidential elections in the Republic of Mari were held on December 19th last year. The problems of the Mari people got worse as soon as the election result was announced.
      "The electoral district of our school is part of the district administration of Kuzhener. Its representatives marched into my office and said that the people in this village voted incorrectly, because Markelov got less than 20% of the votes", says Yuri Osin, the head teacher of the Shorsola village school. In the village, 72% of the vote went to Dolgov, the opposition candidate.
      "I showed the district officials the constitution of the Republic, and asked how the vote in our village violated it. They did not know how to answer, but they said that Markelov is now the only constitution in the Republic of Mari. Next they threatened to close the school. I showed them the school law, and said that a school can be shut down only if there are not enough pupils, and not because of an incorrect election result. Then they began to threaten to shut down the village council."
      
A couple of days later the Kuzhener district administration summoned all head teachers whose electoral districts voted against Markelov. The six who showed up were ordered to explain the poor showing of the incumbent president in the elections.
      "I said that it is not the task of school head teachers to answer for the election result. When he heard that, the head of the school department became agitated and demanded that I sign my own resignation. Naturally I did not agree to do so. We do not live in a dictatorship. Our laws still work", Osinin insisted. However, he is upset that dozens of head teachers in Mari succumbed to the pressure and agreed to resign.
      The head teachers of Kuzhener district have also been ordered to fire all teachers who advised the parents of their pupils to vote for the opposition candidate, or they will face dismissal themselves.
      "This order was given in the Mari Republic as a whole. If it is carried out, the number of Mari civil servants to lose their jobs will rise to 1,000. As most of them are teachers who speak the Mari language, this would be a massive blow to Mari culture", Yevgeni Yefremov sighs.
      
Helsingin Sanomat asked Mari President Leonid Markelov for an interview concerning the problems of the indigenous minority of the Mari Republic. According to the President�s office, Markelov could not spare even ten minutes for an interview before the end of April.
      On February 22nd Helsingin Sanomat published an international appeal on behalf of the Mari people on its op-ed page, calling for an end to the attacks against the democratic opposition in the Republic. Finnish signatories included former Parliamentary Speaker Riitta Uosukainen, former Foreign Minister and Social Democratic leader Pertti Paasio, and Professor Kyösti Julku. Signatories from Estonia included former President Lennart Meri, MEP Toomas Hendrik Ilves, and Parliamentarian Mart Laar. Also signing the appeal were Hungarian Ambassador Béla Jávorszky, as well as a number of academics from Hungary, Sweden, the United States, and the UK. 
      Journalist Kirsikka Moring of the cultural desk of Helsingin Sanomat has also written on many occasions about the difficulties faced by the Mari people, the ethnic cousins of the Finns, as they struggle in the grip of Moscow.