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Volume 10, Number 1 January 8, 2010 BIGOTRY MONITOR A Weekly Human Rights Newsletter on Antisemitism, Xenophobia, and Religious Persecution in the Former Communist World and Western Europe EDITOR: CHARLES FENYVESI (News and Editorial Policy within the sole discretion of the editor) Published by UCSJ: Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union _______________________________________________________ The year 2009, a year that marked a further decline for the cause of human rights in Russia, ended with a brutal police action against peaceful demonstrators and harsh statements by leaders of the Russian Orthodoxy, both deepening divisions between those in power and its critics. 1. RIOT POLICE BREAK UP PEACEFUL RALLY, ALEXEYEVA AMONG THOSE ARRESTED. On December 31, police detained at least 30 participants at an unsanctioned opposition rally in central Moscow, apparently singling out 82-year-old Ludmilla Alexeyeva, head of the oldest human rights organization in Russia, and Eduard Limonov, the flamboyant leader of the outlawed National Bolshevik Party. The protesters gathered in Triumfalnaya Square to demand that the government adhere to the Russian Constitution, Deutsche Welle reported. They carried signs reading, 'Putin behind bars!' and had begun shouting 'Freedom!' and 'End Putin's reign!' when anti-riot police broke up the rally and made the arrests... The activists protested on the 31st of July, August, October, and now December in a nod to the 31st article of the Russian constitution, which guarantees the right of assembly. All of the demonstrations have been banned and broken up. This was the first time that the police went after Alexeyeva, and photographs of an elderly woman being manhandled by much larger, thuggish-looking police officers went around the world. The White House promptly expressed dismay at the detentions and voiced concern about reports of Alexeyeva's mistreatment. The United States expresses dismay at reports that authorities in Moscow prevented Russian citizens from exercising their right to assemble peacefully, National Security Council Spokesman Mike Hammer said. In particular, the United States notes with concern the detention of protesters, including prominent human rights defender Ludmilla Alexeyeva, and reports of their mistreatment by authorities while in custody. He added: Freedom of speech and assembly are universal rights that all governments should recognize and defend. The United States stands with those dedicated to promoting these human rights. After a meeting with the new Moscow police chief, all the detainees were released. However, in the new year they may receive a summons to defend themselves in court. According to one knowledgeable source, human rights activists in Moscow have asked President Dmitry Medvedev to apologize for the police action. A few days earlier, Alexeyeva won the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought. Upon her release, she told the Interfax news agency that she had been mistreated during her detention.   In 1976, Alexeyeva was a founding member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, the oldest human rights organization currently active in Russia, which was the _object_ of a denigration campaign and arrests under the Soviet regime, Agence France-Presse noted. She was forced to leave the USSR in 1977 and was exiled in the United States. She returned to Moscow in 1990. 2. PATRIARCH KIRILL ENDORSES PUTIN'S ISOLATIONIST STANCE. It is impermissible to measure Russian life by the norms of somebody else's civilization and culture, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia told the Russian Civil Service Academy on December 29, thus endorsing one of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's favorite arguments. We must strongly oppose attempts to be judged by alien criteria, he said, according to Interfax. Russian foreign policy had long been trying to prove to external observers that we are good guys and live by the same criteria but still have certain shortcomings. Our diplomats were humbly telling the critics, who tried to extrapolate their own criteria to our situation, that we were alike, good as they were and the critics simply had erroneous information and misunderstood us. Meanwhile, criteria applicable to another cultural environment cannot be equally appropriate for Russia, Kirill continued. Otherwise, claims of the alleged threat of clericalization of the Russian society will be made, just like they were in annual freedom of worship reports of the U.S. Department of State, he noted and extended his criticisms to Europeans: A modern European oriented at success, prosperity, and comfort yields to the passionate force the Islamic communities in Europe represent. The religious factor in public life has always been primary for Islamic countries, he added, while many Europeans are losing their ability to heroism and death in defense of [their] home country. Kirill seemed to be implying that Christianity is at war with Islam and that Russians have the right approach, heroism and death. 3. RUSSIAN ORTHODOX LEADER URGES GOVERNMENT ACTION AGAINST 'SECTS.' Metropolitan Sergiy, the head of the Russian Orthodox diocese of Voronezh, accused sects (a pejorative codeword for minority Christians) of espionage and exploiting their parishioners, according to a December 30 report by the Portal-Credo news web site. In a local television interview, Metropolitan Sergiy called for the government to repress sects and argued that the government should prevent Russians from joining any but the four traditional religions