Anti-fascist Activist Killed in Moscow

Anti-fascist Activist Killed in Moscow
October 15th, 2008

A young activist involved with a Russian anti-fascist movement has been killed in the country’s capital, the Interfax news agency reports (RUS). 26-year-old Fedor Filatov died in an area hospital on October 10th from multiple knife wounds sustained early that morning.

A representative of the Antifa movement said Filatov, known in the movement as “Nok,” was jumped by a group of assailants near him home as he went to work. “According to our information, four to eight people armed with knives were waiting for him in his courtyard,” he said.

The source said that a Russian neo-nazi group had already claimed responsibility for the murder on an internet forum as recently as October 12th. While a murder investigation has been launched, law enforcement officials had yet to verify that information.

The Antifa source said the movement considers Filatov’s murder a “planned action” by extremists. “There is not a shadow of a doubt that he died for his beliefs,” the group’s members wrote in a statement.

Russia has seen a growing presense of neo-nazi and extreme nationalist organizations in recent years, and attacks on immigrants and non-ethnically Russian people have become more common. Immigrant community leaders have meanwhile accused authorities and law enforcement of being too lenient in pursuing ethnically motivated crimes.

Groups like Antifa have stepped in to try to counter the growing influence of neo-nazis and denounce their racist and violent activities. Filatov himself helped to found the Moscow Trojan Skinheads, a group described as “a community of anti-political, anti-racist skinheads from Moscow and the Moscow Oblast.”

Filatov was not the first anti-fascist activist to be attacked and killed in recent years.

In November 2005, vocal activist and musician Timur Kacharava, 20, died from knife wounds in St. Petersburg. In April 2006, 19-year-old Alexander Ryukhin was killed by six neo-nazis outside a punk-rock concert. In January 2007, Ivan Yelin was stabbed 20 times by unidentified attackers on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. In March of this year, 16-year-old Alexei Krylov died in Moscow after a group of 15 neo-nazis armed with knives attacked 7 young people near the Kitai Gorod metro station.

Each young man had taken part in the Russian anti-fascist movement.

Czech Romanies stage exhibition to mark Roma Day

Czech Romanies stage exhibition to mark Roma Day
Prague, 8.4.2008, 20:08, (ROMEA/CTK)

Czech Romany activists opened an exhibition paying homage to the victims of racially-motivated crime in Prague on the occasion of the International Roma Day today.

They lit candles near the exhibit panels with the names of 27 Romanies who have been killed by violent perpetrators in the Czech Republic since 1990 over the colour of their skin or their different views.

The panels feature, among others, the names and information about the cases of Tibor Daniel, Tibor Berki [and] Filip Venclik.

Romany Tibor Berki died from injuries he received when he was attacked by four [boneheads].

Eighteen members of the [bonehead] movement were charged with the murder of Romany Tibor Daniel but only two of them have been convicted and they only received suspended sentences.

Anarchist Filip Venclik was killed [September 5, 1993] by an attacker at a metro station. [Also Zdenìk Èepela, August 31, 1994.]

"The question is who will be the next. We want to believe in a better future," activist Gabina Hrabanova said.

According to representatives of the Romany Dzeno group, anti-Gypsy tendencies have strengthened in the Czech Republic in the past period.

The Association of Romany Regional Representatives shares this view.

The exhibition was organised by Dzeno. According to its head Ivan Vesely, the organisers did not want to mark this year's Roma Day by dance or song events as usual. On the contrary, they wanted to pay tribute to the victims of racially-motivated violence and point to the situation of Romanies in the Czech Republic and the European Union.

Romanies are the largest minority in the EU. According to estimates, up to 12 million Romanies live in Europe.

Some 11,700 people declared themselves Romanies in the latest national census in the Czech Republic. However, according to estimates, some 250,000 Romanies live in the country.

An analysis has shown that one-third of them live in ghettos in which almost all adults are jobless and families are dependent on welfare benefits. Romany children are placed in schools for children with learning difficulties which closes a path for them to a higher education.

Romanies resent when Czech and European officials describe them as a "social problem," Vesely said.

He told CTK that Romanies would like to participate in the improvement of their situation and want to make decisions concerning them by themselves.

Last year Dzeno addressed an open letter to President Vaclav Klaus calling on him to contribute to the observance of human rights and the improvement of Romany situation in the Czech Republic.

The International Roma Day has been celebrated since 1990 to mark the first meeting of Romany representatives held near London on April 8, 1971.

In the following days, the first world Roma congress took place in Britain at which the International Roma Union was established.

Participants from 14 countries, including the former Czechoslovakia, approved the Roma anthem and the Roma flag at the congress.

See also : ANTIFA.CZ [Czech | English]



In January of this year, another Czech antifa, an anarchist skinhead named Jan Kucera, was murdered by a bonehead. More details on Jan's life and premature death were once available on my previous blog. For the time being -- that is, until such time as my blog is republished -- below is footage of Jan's funeral: