Putin: Crimea is sacred to Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused what he called “enemies of yesterday” of trying to bring a new Iron Curtain down around Russia. As it moves into recession, he blames the West. On the other hand, he gave himself high marks for annexing Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and said his country would rise to any challenge. He delivered his annual state-of-the-nation speech in St. George Hall in the Kremlin. Putin said: “The historical reunification of Crimea and Sebastopol with Russia finally happened. This has a special importance for our people, our country, because our people live in Crimea, and the territory is strategically important. It is a sacred source of our multi-faced but unified Russian nation.” He insisted that Crimea is as important to Russians as Temple Mount in Jerusalem is to Islam and Judaism.

http://www.euronews.com/2014/12/04/putin-defies-west-over-ukraine-and-sacred-crimea/

Pussy Riot Releases First Song Since Members Imprisoned

Pussy Riot’s first song since two band members were imprisoned last year is, perhaps unsurprisingly, titled “Like a Red Prison.” In the track, a music video for which was posted on YouTube on Tuesday (watch it, below), Russia’s most outspoken feminist band of a dozen balaclava-wearing activists makes but a fleeting reference to members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, who were sentenced to two years in jail for hooliganism after their “punk prayer” against then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130716/182271237/Pussy-Riot-Releases-First-Song-Since-Members-Imprisoned.html

Russia’s Supreme Court Upholds School Hijab Ban

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a ban on wearing Muslim headscarves to school in southern Russia, the RAPSI legal news agency reported. The court ruled that the ban did not violate freedom of faith or the right to education with regard to Muslim schoolgirls. It said that every school has the right to decide what its students may or may not wear. The ban on hijabs for schoolchildren in the southern Stavropol Region came into effect last September after local authorities issued a ruling requiring schoolchildren to wear uniforms. In late April, parents challenged the ban in the Supreme Court after a regional court rejected their lawsuit in March. A representative of the Prosecutor General's Office told the court that the Stavropol administration's decision to introduce school uniforms was “not a local whim” but was in line with federal legislation, “which stipulates the secular nature of education in Russia.”

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130710/182170798/Russias-Top-Court-Upholds-School-Hijab-Ban.html

ECHR: Russia Violated Jehovah’s Witnesses' Rights

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) held Thursday that the rights of two Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia were violated when their medical records were disclosed to prosecution authorities because they rejected blood transfusions. According to the website of the international Jehovah’s Witnesses religious organization, adherents do not categorically reject all forms of medical treatment. According to the ECHR judgment, in light of a prosecutorial inquiry into the religious organization, a St. Petersburg Deputy City Prosecutor asked the local health authorities to instruct all of the city’s medical institutions to report each instance of the refusal by Jehovah’s Witnesses to accept the transfusion of blood or blood components.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20130606/267685091.html

Russia: US Religious Freedom Report ‘Politicized’

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday dismissed as “politicized” the Religious Freedom Report recently published by the US Department of State and said that such documents incite religious conflicts. The annual report, released on Monday, mentions Russia among several countries around the world including Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Cuba, Iran and China that it says imposed restrictions on freedom of religion last year. Konstantin Dolgov, the Foreign Ministry's special representative for human rights, democracy and the rule of law, said in a statement that the State Department’s report “offers a distorted and politicized picture of the state of religious freedoms in 2012, by replacing the thorough analysis of reasons for religious intolerance with ill-founded accusations directed at numerous states, including Russia.”

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130523/181314901/US-Religious-Freedom-Report-Politicized---Russia.html

Georgian Priests Charged Over LGBT Rally Violence

Two high-ranking Georgian priests have been charged in connection with the May 17 attack by conservative activists on a gay rights rally in downtown Tbilisi, the News Georgia news agency reported on Thursday. The head of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi, Antimoz (Tamaz) Bichinashvili, and the head of the Ioane-Tornike Eristavi Monastery, Iotam (Irakli) Basilaya, have been charged with using or threatening the use of force to infringe on the right to peaceful assembly, the Georgian Interior Ministry said. They face up to two years in prison if found guilty. Gay rights activists from the Identoba (Identity) group planned to hold a rally outside the former parliament building on the city’s central Rustaveli Avenue last Friday to mark the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. Tbilisi authorities had authorized the event. However, thousands of anti-gay protestors, mostly Christian activists, priests and members of conservative non-governmental organizations, gathered in the designated location before the rally began, forcing gay activists to change the venue. Several dozen gay rights activists who came to take part moved to a small area adjacent to Freedom Square, about two hundred meters away from the initial site. After it became known that the venue of Identoba’s rally had been changed, participants of the anti-gay demonstration moved toward Freedom Square, breaking through police cordons on their way. A total of 28 people, including three police officers and one journalist, were injured in ensuing violence. Though the Georgian Orthodox Church has officially denounced the attack, it said that its clerics and believers only reacted to “an event that was provocative from the very beginning.”

http://en.ria.ru/world/20130523/181314483/Two-Georgian-Priests-Charged-Over-LGBT-Rally-Violence.html

Pussy Riot Members Denied Parole

A Russian court has denied parole to a member of punk band Pussy Riot who has begun a hunger strike in jail. The court in Berezniki accepted claims that Maria Alyokhina had systematically disobeyed prison authorities and failed to repent for her crime, Russian media reported. Last month, fellow band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was also denied parole. Internationally famous musicians including Paul McCartney had been among those calling for them to be freed. The women were jailed for two years in August for breaching public order motivated by religious hatred. "This looked not like a court hearing but like arm-twisting," Alyokhina's mother Natalia told Svoboda Radio, which carried a live web video feed from the court. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote I believe that you granting this request would send a very positive message to all the people who have followed this case” Letter to judge from Paul McCartney and Peter Gabriel "Clearly the court was not interested in the character of the convict, because the decision was likely made in advance," she added. Alyokhina announced a hunger strike on Wednesday after being refused the right to attend her own parole hearing. She also ordered her lawyer to boycott the hearing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22646011

McCartney Supports Pussy Riot

Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney has written letters to Russian authorities in support of two members of Russian punk group Pussy Riot, who were jailed last August on offical charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, his website says. The famous musician has asked the Russian officials to consider release on parole for Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who are serving two-year sentences for performing a "punk-prayer" against President Vladimir Putin in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in central Moscow in February 2012. “In the great tradition of fair-mindedness which the Russian people (many of whom are my friends) are famous for, I believe that you granting this request would send a very positive message to all the people who have followed this case,” McCartney wrote in a letter regarding Alyokhina. "I have had a long relationship with the Russian people, and, with this in mind, I am making the following request in a spirit of friendship for my many Russian acquaintances who, like me, believe in treating people - all people, with compassion and kindness,” he wrote in a letter regarding Tolokonnikova.  The letter is addressed to "Dear Lidia Mikhailovna" apparenly meaning Lidia Yakovleva, the judge who recently denied parole for Tolokonnikova.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130523/181300692/Paul-McCartney-Shows-Support-to-Jailed-Pussy-Riot-Members.html
http://www.echo.msk.ru/blog/echomsk/1079876-echo/ (document)

Pussy Riot's Alyokhina Declares Hunger Strike

Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina has gone on a hunger strike after The Berezniki City Court in the Perm Territory denied her access to the hearing of her parole appeal. Alyokhina takes part in the proceedings via videoconference. After being denied transportation to the courthouse, she refused to continue the conference and barred her defense team from representing her interests. Immediately after that court postponed the hearings until Thursday. In February 2012, five young women wearing brightly colored balaclavas staged a "punk-style" prayer in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in central Moscow. An edited video of their performance was posted on the Internet and caused a public outcry. In August 2012, the Khamovnichesky District Court in Moscow sentenced Alyokhina and two other Pussy Riot members - Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich - to two years in a prison settlement for hooliganism. In October 2012, the Moscow City Court changed Samutsevich's verdict to a suspended sentence and released her immediately, based on her new attorneys' argument that she was seized by security guards prior to reaching the altar. Alyokhina's and Tolokonnikova's sentences were upheld. In April, the Zubova Polyana District Court in Mordovia rejected Tolokonnikova's request for parole.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20130522/267507421.html

US: Russia Restricts Religious Freedom

Russia is among several countries around the world including Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, and China that imposed restrictions on freedom of religion last year, according to an annual report released Monday by the US State Department. According to the International Religious Freedom Report for 2012, the Russian government “targeted members of minority religious groups through the use of extremism charges to ban religious materials and restrict groups’ right to assemble.” It said authorities also “restricted religious minorities through detention, raids, denial of official registration with the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and denial of visas to religious workers.” “There is no state religion, but the Russian Orthodox Church and other ‘traditional’ religious communities received preferential consideration,” the report found. The annual report details the status of religious freedom in 195 countries throughout the world. Mandated by, and presented to, the US Congress, under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

http://en.ria.ru/world/20130521/181259579/Russian-Laws-Policies-Restrict-Religious-Freedom---US-Report.html

Armenia to Pay Out €112,000 to Jehovah's Witnesses

The Armenian government allocated €112,000 to the Justice Ministry during its meeting on Wednesday to be paid out to Jehovah’s Witnesses in accordance with a judgment rendered by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in November 2012, according to an official statement. In 2004, the claimants were assigned service positions in such institutions as hospitals and nursing homes as an alternative to military service based on their religious views. The following year, they informed their institutions that they would no longer be willing to serve due to the fact that their alternative service positions were controlled by the military. Criminal proceedings were brought against the applicants based on the refusal to serve, and they were placed in detention. Based on these issues, they filed complaints with the ECHR, alleging violations of their rights under the European Convention of Human Rights (Convention). The ECHR held that with regards to most of the applicants, there had been violations of the right to liberty and security and the right to compensation for unlawful detention, in violation of Article 5 of the Convention. Accordingly, the Court held that each claimant whose rights were found to have been violated should receive €6,000 in non-pecuniary damages, and that the lot of them should be awarded €10,000 for costs and expenses.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_information/20130508/267305169.html

Pussy Riot’s Tolokonnikova Denied Parole

A parole request by Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who is serving a two-year sentence for a "punk prayer," was rejected. The judge of the Zubovo-Polyansky District Court in the Volga area Republic of Mordovia, said that Tolokonnikova’s behavior in prison was taken into account. It was reported earlier that Tolokonnikova violated certain prison regulations and had no regrets.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20130426/267203609.html

Russian Parents Appeal Hijab Ban to Supreme Court

Parents whose children are not allowed to wear Muslim headscarves to school in a southern Russian region have appealed to the Supreme Court, defense lawyer Murad Musayev told RIA Novosti on Monday. The ban on hijabs for pupils in the Stavropol Region came into force last September after local authorities issued a ruling requiring schoolchildren to wear uniforms. The uniform guidelines ban pupils from wearing brightly colored clothes, veils, pants and skirts with a low waistline or high slits, and accessories depicting informal youth group symbols, as well as religious clothing. The appeal was filed on behalf of Muslim families in the Stavropol Region who are seeking to annul the school uniform requirements. A lower court rejected the lawsuit in March.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130422/180783267/Russian-Parents-Appeal-Hijab-Ban-in-Upper-Court.html

Pig DNA Found in Halal Meat in Moscow

Pig DNA has been found in sausages and ham produced at a halal meat processing plant in Moscow, fresh testing results revealed Wednesday, although this does not necessarily mean that the products actually contain pork, a spokesman for the institute that conducted the tests said. (Halal means meat prepared as prescribed by Muslim law.) “The DNA traces that have been discovered may be a result of contact with raw meat consisting of pork or pork products,” said Boris Gutnik of the Gorbatov All-Russian Meat Research Institute. Gutnik called for checks to be conducted at the slaughterhouses, saying that if cattle were slaughtered in the same place as pigs, that could explain the presence of the pig DNA in the halal products. The institute spokesman said that all the facilities and equipment that Moscow’s Tsaritsino meat processing plant uses to produce halal meat are “completely separate from other processes.” Moscow’s Tsaritsino meat processing plant has been supplying halal meat products to the Russia Mufties Council’s International Center for Halal Standardization and Certification since 2007.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130327/180281741/Pig-DNA-Found-in-Halal-Meat-Plant-in-Moscow.html

Lawsuit against Hijab Ban in Russia's Stavropol Schools Rejected

The Stavropol Territorial Court has rejected a lawsuit against the ban on wearing headdresses to school, including the hijab, a Moscow lawyer said on Friday. Lawyer Murad Musayev filed the lawsuit on behalf of the region's Muslim people, who seek to annul the new school uniform requirements introduced last September. "The court has rejected our lawsuit," he said. "I believe this ruling was politically motivated." He added that he plans to appeal the decision. The uniform requirements prohibit schoolchildren from wearing brightly colored clothes, trousers and skirts with a low waistline or high slits, veils, accessories featuring informal youth group symbols, and religious clothing. There are 20 million Muslims in Russia. Most live in the North Caucasus, as well as in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20130322/266799709.html

Russian Billionaire: Pussy Riot Case Highlights Inefficiency of Russian Justice

In an interview given to the Financial Times Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, chief executive of Rusal, said, in particular, that the Pussy Riot case highlights the inefficiency of Russian justice. Two members of the all-female Pussy Riot band were sentenced to two-year jail terms for singing a protest song against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main Orthodox cathedral. According to Deripaska, if the justice system had “worked properly”, the women would have been sentenced to 15 days’ community service. Instead they were detained for too long, and the system then had to justify itself by putting them on trial. As the businessman puts it, “someone had to cover their ass”. “The Russian law enforcement system is so strong that it will defend itself ’til the last bullet,” explained the billionaire, adding that the Russian FSB security service is now “twice as big” as the Soviet KGB.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bf25f192-8d84-11e2-a0fd-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2NtvvtIun

Schneerson Library to be Handed Over to Russian Hasids

Books from the so-called Yitzchok Schneerson collection will be handed over to Russian Hasids amid requests by Hasids in the United States to transfer the books into their possession instead, an official said on Thursday. The disputed books will be registered with the Russian State Library, Presidential Commissioner for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoi said at the Moscow Jewish Center on Thursday. Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson was forced to leave the Soviet Union in 1927. He took his collection with him to Latvia and then Poland, where he left the books after Poland was attacked by Nazi Germany. The collection was taken to Germany and confiscated by the Red Army in 1945. Schneerson died in 1950 without leaving instructions regarding the collection. On January 16, the US District Columbia Court ordered Russia to pay fines of $50,000 per day until it returns the books and manuscripts to American Hasids. Russia's Foreign Ministry described the ruling as unlawful provocation.

http://www.rapsinews.com/news/20130315/266727201.html

Russian Migration Officials, Cossacks Disrupt Pussy Riot Play in Moscow Theater

A play about the trial against Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot was interrupted in Moscow on Sunday when migration authorities came to ask the Swiss theater director for his work documents. The Moscow Trials play by director Milo Rau tells the story of the most controversial cases of the last decade, including the trial against three female activists, who were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" for performing an anti-Putin “punk prayer” at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral last February. Two of the group members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were sentenced to two years in prison, while another one, Yekaterina Samutsevich, had her sentence suspended. In the middle of the play, in which Samutsevich took part, the officials of the Russian Federal Migration Service entered the Sakharov Centre, staging the performance, and asked the Swiss director to show his work documents. Shortly after the migration officials left, the performance was interrupted for a second time when dozens of people wearing Cossack uniforms stormed the building in protest of the play’s content. Meanwhile, a police spokesman said the situation was “calm” and “no serious violations of the law have been registered.”

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130303/179793039/Migration-Officials-Disrupt-Pussy-Riot-Play-in-Moscow.html
http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2139437
http://www.echo.msk.ru/blog/marat_gelman/1023568-echo/

Chechen Head Cracks Down on Black Magicians

The Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov demanded to nip the activity of magicians and false healers in Chechnya. "People must know that turning to magicians and false healers will not give them any relief and that it is prohibited by the Islam," the Chechen head said. Kadyrov warned false healers and black magicians that if they don't cease their activity they will be severely prosecuted.

http://chechnya.gov.ru/page.php?r=126&id=12372
http://www.lenta.ru/news/2013/02/11/magic/

300 Muslims Arrested in St Petersburg

Russian police detained nearly 300 Muslims from several countries in Saint Petersburg as part of a probe into suspected calls to terrorism, investigators said Saturday. They said in a statement that "271 people including citizens of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, nationals of Russia's North Caucasus and an Egyptian and an Afghani were detained to verify their suspected involvement in terrorist activity". The Federal Security Service (FSB) and police carried out the operation on Friday in the Apraskine Dvor central market where Muslims are known to work and pray. The authorities did not say whether they had released the people, but immigration officials said Saturday that 10 of them would be deported, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. One of those detained, 25-year-old Murat Sarbashev from the Caucasian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, is suspected of posting extremist literature and videos of terrorist acts on the Internet, the investigators said. They added that all 271 were detained as part of an investigation into "calls for terrorist acts" and "incitement to hatred", without elaborating. FSB spokesman Dmitri Kochetkov said they recovered extremist literature at the market.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130209/russia-detains-nearly-300-muslims-terrorism-probe
http://www.gazeta.ru/social/news/2013/02/09/n_2746481.shtml
http://youtu.be/_UlUKwFjJcA (video)