Estonian Institute for Human Rights Calling to Support Mari People

28.02.05

The Appeal on Behalf of the Mari People calling on Russia to stop persecuting Mari journalists and leaders of political opposition, as well as infringing on the rights of this minority nation, has quickly gained international attention. This document is now open on the Internet to everyone and additional signatures are arriving from all continents. The Estonian Institute for Human Rights supports the Appeal and calls on the human rights organisations and the international community to join it by signing the Appeal on the web page www.ugri.info/mari.

The appeal was initiated by a group of Finnish researchers who reacted to a report by the Mari El Association in Moscow of the political terror 'reaching its climax'. This initiative was supported by writers, composers and politicians from USA, Britain, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Hungary, including former speaker of the Finnish parliament Riitta Uosukainen and former presidents of Lithuania and Estonia Vytautas Landsbergis and Lennart Meri.

The irony is that Russia has now been caught in its own trap. The Maris say that Russia is abusing their human and cultural rights and they appealed for help to other Finno-Ugric peoples, including Estonians. Russia has constantly accused Estonia in violating the rights of Russian-speaking population. These accusations found no confirmation. All international commissions, including those of EU and OSCE, found no jamming of Russian-speakers.

Cultural rights of Russians in Estonia are better protected than those of Maris in Russia. Estonia has is a round-the-clock public radio programme in Russian, TV news in Russian, a number of Russian private radio stations and a Russian TV station. None of the organisations of minorities in Estonia have ever complained of any infringement of their civil or human rights. This is a contrast to what takes place in the Russian Federation.

The situation of Mari cultural rights in Russia is pitiful. The TV and radio programmes in Mari language in the autonomous Republic of Mari El are reduced to a minimum. Only brief news on the TV and less that an hour of Mari radio broadcasting have remained.

The Russian propaganda war against the three Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - is a result of fear that the former colonies give a bad example to others by demonstrating rapid progress in contrast to their fading down under the Moscow rule. However, having raised attention to the issue of human rights by falsely accusing its neighbours, Russia was now accused by its own minority in bad practices of establishing the reign of terror for its minority peoples and eroding their cultures and languages.

The issue of violation of human rights of the Mari minority will now be examined at the European Parliament. Its commission on ethnic minorities and regional languages has included the issue of violation of human rights of Maris in its agenda.

The issues that the Mari minority complains about were touched on by U.S. President George W. Bush at his meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin but without precisely pointing at a specific nation. At the joint press conference following the meeting, the American President stressed: "Democracies always reflect a country's customs and culture, and I know that. But democracies have certain things in common: they have a rule of law and protection of minorities, a free press and a viable political opposition."

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APPENDIX - Uninvestigated crimes against journalists and opposition leaders during the presidency in the autonomous Republic of Mari El of Leonid Markelov, a man openly contemptuous of democratic processes:

November 21, 2001: Aleksandr Babaykin, assistant chief editor of the opposition newspaper The Good Neighbors, is brutally killed in the centre of Yoshkar-Ola, the capital city of Mari El.

November 2001: Leonid Plotnikov, assistant chief of department of the publishing house Periodika Mari El, is killed.

November 2001: Aleksei Bakhtin, journalist of the regional newspaper, is killed.

March 12, 2002: Vladimir Maltsev, chief editor of the newspaper The Good Neighbors, is attacked in the evening and caused severe bodily injuries.

March 14, 2002: The door of the Vladimir Maltsev's apartment is poured over with fuel and put on fire by unknown persons.

August 14, 2004: a pogrom is made in the apartment of Valentin Matveyev, a public figure and author of critical articles in The Good Neighbors.

October 4, 2004: masked bandits, armed with weapons and acting in the name of the Department of Criminal Investigations, attack the apartment of an employee of the human rights organization Citizen And Law.

October 2004: journalist Vitaliy Igitov is attacked. Earlier, in personal conversations, Leonid Markelov called Igitov the man who had insulted him most.

January 7, 2005: correspondent of the Radio Liberty / Radio Free Europe Yelena Rogacheva is attacked.

February 7, 2005: 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 Kanash, is attacked and severely beaten.

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APPENDIX: The report of the Moscow-based Mari El Association requesting for
international support "The Climax of Political Terror in Mari El" 7 February 2005

ESTONIAN INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Source: Information Centre of Finno-Ugric Peoples (SURI)