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'''Boris Vladimirovich Stomakhin''' ('']'': Борис Владимирович Стомахин) (born August 24, 1974 in ]) is a Russian ] ], and editor of "Radical politics" periodical. He was convicted three times for hate speech, incriminating him advocating a dismemberment of the Russian Federation and inciting ethnic and religious hatred, and justification of terrorism. The convictions have been questioned by ] organizations ], ], and ].
{{POV}}
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'''Boris Vladimirovich Stomakhin''' ('']'': Борис Владимирович Стомахин), (born ], ], ]), is a ] radical politician of Jewish origin, journalist, editor of ] periodicals.


==Journalism== ==Journalism and political activism==
Boris Stomakhin was an editor of monthly newspaper "Radical Politics" since 2000. Besides, he contributed numerous materials to ], the ] internet agency that promotes independence of ] and is maintained by Chechen rebels. He also issued a number of other ] periodicals {{fact}}.


Stomakhin was a member of ] ].<ref name="mao"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070702143844/http://rgf.maoism.ru/Lenin.htm |date=2007-07-02 }}.</ref> Later he became a leader of a ] political group "Revolutionary Contact Association" (RCA).
==Political views==
In his articles, Stomakhin advocated terrorist attacks on Russian civilians<ref name=Sto/>, called to exterminate all Russians<ref name=Sto/>, claimed that modern Russia is ] and therefore must be destroyed, called Russians a "nation of occupiers", and compared President ] to ] and ].<ref name="hrh"> </ref> Stomakhin considered terrorists ] and ] as heroes of Chechen separatist movement and claimed that terrorist acts committed by them are legitimate <ref name="sent"> </ref> because Russians, according to the allegations of Stomakhin, are conducting ] of ]{{fact}}.


Since 2000, Boris Stomakhin was an editor of the monthly newspaper "Radical Politics". In addition, he contributed numerous materials to ], the radical ] internet agency that promoted the independence of ] and is maintained by Chechen separatists.
When the last unrecognized president of ] ] was killed by ] forces in antiterrorist operation, Stomakhin published the following passages in article "Death to Russia"<ref name=Sto/>:


According to Russian court, Stomakhin called for the violent overthrow of government,<ref name="Sentence"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070211025136/http://www.zaborisa.narod.ru/061120prigovor.html |date=2007-02-11 }}</ref> claimed that Russian troops in Chechnya are "occupiers", compared President ] to ] and ].,<ref name="hrh">{{Cite web |url=http://www.humanrightshouse.org/dllvis5.asp?id=4975 |title=Independent journalist given five-year sentence allegedly for inciting ethnic strife |access-date=2006-12-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070101222045/http://www.humanrightshouse.org/dllvis5.asp?id=4975 |archive-date=2007-01-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref> called modern Russia "an ]" that must be destroyed, and considered ] and ] as heroes of legitimate Chechen resistance.<ref name="Sentence"/>
''Kill, Kill, Kill! To flood all Russia with blood, to not give a quarter to anyone, to try to make at least one atomic explosion on the territory of Russian Federation -- this is like the program of radical Resistance should be, and Russian's, and Chechen's, and anyone's! Let the Russians, according to their deserts, reap as they has sown''<ref name="Izves"/> <ref name=Sto/>. ''Russians should be killed, and only killed, for there is no one among them who is normal, intelligent, or who can be talked with and for understanding of whom we could rely. Harsh collective responsibility of all Russians should be introduced, of all loyal Russian citizens for the actions of the government elected by them -- for the genocide, executions, ordeals, trade with corpses... From that moment there should be no division of killers on combatant and non-combatant, wilful or forced''<ref name=Sto/>.


According to ] and ], Stomakhin did not actually promote any terrorist activities and became a political prisoner.<ref name=Svoboda> ] {{in lang|ru}}</ref>
==Political career==
Stomakhin organized a number of illegal picketes by his organization against Russian foreign policy in Ukraine, Estonia, Belarus, Chechnya. He also criticized Russian government in defamatory and obscene statements. He was a leader of ] political group "Revolutionary Contact Association" (RCA). Other members of this organization are Pavel Kantor, Dmitry Tarasov, Ludmila Evstifeeva, and Pavel Luzakov.


==Opening of a criminal case against Stomakhin==
According to the Russian newspaper ] Stomakhin's organization might be involved with Chechen hostage-takers. It alleged that during the ], terrorists had "contacted with activists of Revolutionary Contact Association" and they "may be involved in supplying terrorists with ammunition and its storing at Moscow"<ref name="Utro"> </ref>


Attempts to prosecute Stomakhin for ] were made unsuccessfully in 2000.<ref name="Abarinov"/>
Stomakhin was accused of the extremist activities, calls to violent change of Constitutional regime, calls to violate territorial integrity of Russian Federation, ], inciting ethnic and religious hatred in his articles, which covered among other things, the Chechen conflict, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Russian nation. A case against him was opened in December 2003. His home was raided in April 2004 and his computers and books were confiscated for the expertise. Stomakhin was interrogated. Human Rights House alleged that prosecutors planned to declare him mentally ill and send him for treatment to ] where ] and ] were treated in the past. Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia <ref name="Assoc"> </ref> had conducted an independent unofficial expertise <ref name="hrh"/>, although it is just an NGO, and not a medical institution. However, ordered official Psychiatric expertise at Moscow Serbsky Institute found that Stomakhin is ] for the trial. Stomakhin escaped to the ] seeking political asylum status, which was eventually denied, despite Stomakhin's claims that he is politically prosecuted person in Russian Federation.


Successful application to prosecute Stomakhin was made by ] ] ] member ] at the request of another Communist party member Valentina Lavrova.<ref name="kol"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090919074458/http://kolokol.ru/activists/69450.html |date=2009-09-19 }}</ref> Valentina Lavrova has acquired a copy of Stomakhin ] ], while being on ] in ], ], in September 2002.<ref name="Abarinov"/> Being insulted by the text of periodicals she hasn't rushed immediately to authorities, and began to collect the evidence by visiting public actions of Stomakhin and acquiring new numbers of his periodical. After collecting the evidence she referred not to police or security authorities, but to the member of parliament, Viktor Zorkaltsev.<ref name="Abarinov"/>
==Arrest and Trial==
Having returned to Moscow, Stomakhin was arrested on ] ]. Stomakhin tried to escape during his arrest and fell down (or possibly was pushed <ref name="Micah"/>) from fourth floor of his building. His spine and bones were broken as a result.


Stomakhin's home was searched in April 2004 and his computers and books were confiscated.<ref name="Sentence"/> Stomakhin fled to ] seeking ], which was eventually denied.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}
The statement of Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union, a foreign NGO, in which it was reported that Stomakhin probably "was pushed" is false, because Stomakhin had jumped voluntarily according to numerous reports in mass media<ref name="press1"> </ref><ref name="press2"> </ref><ref name="press3"> </ref><ref name="press4"> </ref><ref name="press5"> </ref> and non-governmental organizations<ref name="ngo1"> </ref><ref name="ngo2"> </ref>. Stomakhin's lawyer Alexei Golubev also acknowledged in an interview to RIA Novosti news agency that Stomakhin had done so deliberately<ref name="inter1"> </ref><ref name="inter2"> </ref>.


==Arrest and trial==
According to Stomakhin's lawyer Alexei Golubev, "He has been kept in a cell all this time, despite the fact that he is practically paralyzed."{{fact}}
Having returned to Moscow, Stomakhin was arrested on March 21, 2006. Stomakhin tried to escape during his arrest and fell down from fourth floor of his building, according to his lawyer Alexei Golubev and news reports.<ref name="press1"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061116020716/http://prima-news.ru/news/news/2006/3/29/35420.html |date=2006-11-16 }}</ref><ref name="press2"></ref><ref name="press4"></ref><ref name="press5"></ref><ref name="ngo1"></ref><ref name="ngo2"></ref><ref name="inter1"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522101939/http://rian.ru/defense_safety/investigations/20061005/54549461.html |date=2011-05-22 }}</ref><ref name="inter2"></ref> His spine and bones were broken as a result.


Stomakhin was subsequently interrogated. Psychiatry experts at the ] found that Stomakhin was ] to stand trial.<ref name="Sentence"/>
He was sentenced to five years of prison for the extremist activities, inciting religious and ethnic hatred, promoting violent change of constitutional regime, calls for violation of terriorial integrity of Russian Federation, defamatory statements(articles 280 and 282 of the Russian Criminal Code).


He was sentenced to five years of prison for inciting hatred and defamatory statements aimed at groups and persons of particular religious and ethnic background and for promoting violent change of constitutional regime and violation of territorial integrity of Russian Federation (articles 280 and 282 of the Russian Criminal Code).<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070211025136/http://www.zaborisa.narod.ru/061120prigovor.html |date=2007-02-11 }} {{in lang|ru}}</ref>
No one human rights organization or non-governmental organization had supported Stomakhin at the trial, and no one organization sued the Russian Federation government for alleged by them abuses of Stomakhin, trial abuses or Stomakhin contention abuses.


In five years after his arrest on 21 March 2011 Somakhin was released from jail.<ref name="Kasparov">{{cite news | url=http://www.kasparov.ru/material.php?id=4D885ECA2BF08 | title=От звонка до звонка | accessdate=March 23, 2011 | date=22 March 2011 | publisher=]}}</ref>
Passages from Stomakhin's articles cited as incriminating evidence in the court sentence are the following:


== Second arrest, new criminal case and conviction ==
*"Let tens of new Chechen snipers take their positions in the mountain ridges and the city ruins and let hundreds, thousands of aggressors fall under righteous bullets! No mercy! Death to the Russian occupiers!"
*"] was justified, natural and legal... The Chechens have every right to blow up anything in Russia after everything that Russia and Russians did to them."
*"Russian Federation must be destroyed forever. State that does such things to entire nations has no right to exist."
*"] died as a hero. He launched so many strikes to bloody Russia as he could".


Boris Stomakhin was arrested again at his apartment Nov. 20 2012 and on a charge of violating the "anti-extremist" articles of the Criminal Code (articles 282 and 205 of the Criminal Code). Detention was the anniversary of his conviction in 2006. Court authorized his detention until 9 February 2013. The investigation was opened on July 10, 2012 and, although this was not mentioned anywhere, and Stomakhin summonses for questioning did not get up to the time of his detention.
Stomakhin pleaded not guilty, according to RIA Novosti, news agency, cited by the Committee to Protect Journalists. He said he was "tried for his views and not for any real crime. ... In the articles, I expressed my opinion, with which people were free to agree or disagree." He said an opinion was not a “call to action.”.


The subject of the charges brought against the 21 November 2012 and served as the signature of three articles Stomakhin published on the Internet, namely, "Do not let another Holocaust" and "Untermensch" (in Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code, "excitement hatred and hostility on grounds of nationality or origin"), and "Mourning" (in Part 1 of the Criminal Code st.205.2, "public justification of terrorism"). In case are other article signed Stomakhin published since 2001 and (also before his first arrest).<ref></ref> The investigation Stomakhin refused to give evidence in accordance with Article 51 of the Constitution.
However, according to the official court sentence, Stomahin pleaded not guilty on the grounds that he never made public appeals for extremist activities, never called for violent change of the constitutional regime, and never incited ethnic hatred.


The arrest of journalist was condemned by a number of public figures, including historian and sociologist Alec D. Epstein,<ref></ref> journalists Daniel Kotsjubinsky and Vladimir Pribylovsky, a former member of the Federation Council Alexei Manannikov, the former ] and political prisoners Adele Naydenovich, ], ], Paul Lyuzakov, Elena Sannikova, ],<ref></ref> and Cyril Podrabinek, ].,<ref></ref> ]. A campaign for his release. So, on the actions of the Russian opposition to 2012-2013 s raised banners with the text "Free Boris Stomakhin", his portraits with the inscription "Boris Stomakhin. 5 years in prison" were pasted on the walls Russian embassy in Berlin the night of January 16, 2013 and during the campaign in support of arrested activists of the Russian opposition,<ref></ref> more than 100 opposition signed a petition demanding the release Stomakhin.<ref></ref>
==Public opinion==
] international orgaization, which protects ], stated that "we do not believe Mr. Stomakhin’s comments can be interpreted as incitement to ethnic hatred." <ref name="a19"> , 23 November 2006 </ref>


22 April 2014 Stomakhin was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}} 15 July 2014 sentence has been approved by Moscow city court.
], government opposition figure, leader of the ] that has a miserable number of voters, claimed that the prosecution of Stomakhin was the start of a wider campaign, "because together with him, the entire human rights sector and the entire democratic movement will be put on trial for disagreeing with the majority, for not accepting the state policy of the Russian Federation, for sympathizing with the Chechen people, for anti-war demonstrations and pickets." <ref name="Novo"> - by Jamestown Foundation </ref> At the same time, Novodvorskaya was a witness from Stomakhin's side at the Stomakhin's trial, where she never raised any such claims. She also never claimed specific facts in support of her statements.


==Third trial==
Micah H. Naftalin, Director of ], a foreign NGO, said: "Bogus charges aimed at stifling dissent, cruel police tactics, ethnic bias, and blatant disregard for criminal procedural statutes are all on open display. We hope that others will join us in condemning this travesty of justice" <ref name="Micah"> , statement of UCSJ November 9, 2006) </ref>. He argued that Stomakhin's sentence was disproportionate, but acknowledged that Stomakhin's statements were ''radical''. He also described statements by Boris Stomakhin as 'non-violent'. No one Jewish NGO in Russian Federation supported his view though.
After the third trial, on April 20, 2015 the sentence was extended to 7 years.<ref name=arka></ref>
Opposition figures like human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina and politician ] argued that Stomakhin's writings while outrageous had not been a public threat: they were very unlikely to incite anybody. According to Gannushkina and Novodvorskaya the ] who posses a real threat usually receive only minimal sentences or no sentences at all. Thus, the five year prison term to Stomahin is extremely excessive <ref name="Opinions"> - by Anna Karpuk for grani.ru </ref> <ref name="Val1"> - by ] for grani.ru </ref> <ref name="Val2"> - by ] for grani.ru </ref>.


==European Court of Human Rights decision==
Opposition journalist Vladimir Abarinov noted that Stomakhin has been convicted for publishing an article against ] that was actually plagiarized by Stomakhin from a ] entry of a different person <ref name="Abarinov"> - by Vladimir Abarinov for grani.ru.</ref> On trial no one disputed the authorship of the articles written by Stomakhin <ref name="Sentence"></ref>.
In May 2018 the ] found that the Stomakhin’s punishment was not proportionate to the legitimate aims pursued and awarded him EUR 12,500 in respect of non-pecuniary damage.<ref></ref>


==Release and emigration==
However, no specific charges were brought by any human rights organizations and the critics of the court decision, and no details or facts of 'human rights violations' or any abuse whatsoever were presented to public.
In September 2019 Stomakhin was released from imprisonment. In November 2019 he left Russia and asked for asylum in ].<ref></ref>


==Commentaries==
Critics of the court decision were censured by
Russian publicist Maxim Sokolov. In his newspaper article published after the conviction of Stomakhin <ref name="Izves"> ] ] ]</ref> he argued that unlimited ] should be prosecuted according to the article 282 of the criminal code.
He cited Stomakhin's article ''Death to Russia'' published on the website of the ''Revolutionary Contact Association'' <ref name=Sto></ref>. The article was written
in response to murder of last elected president of ] ] by Russian forces.


===Support===
The Stomakhin's article contained the following passages written by Stomakhin: ''Kill, Kill, Kill! To flood all Russia with blood, to not give a quarter to anyone, to try to make at least one atomic explosion on the territory of Russian Federation -- this is like the program of radical Resistance should be, and Russian's, and Chechen's, and anyone's! Let the Russians, according to their deserts, reap as they has sown''<ref name="Izves"/> <ref name=Sto/>. ''Russians should be killed, and only killed, for there is no one among them who is normal, intelligent, or who can be talked with and for understanding of whom we could rely. Harsh collective responsibility of all Russians should be introduced, of all loyal Russian citizens for the actions of the government elected by them -- for the genocide, executions, ordeals, trade with corpses... From that moment there should be no division of killers on combatant and non-combatant, wilful or forced''<ref name=Sto/>.
] said that "people like Boris are the most dangerous for the Putin's regime that deceived millions of Russians, brought them to their knees and transformed them to slaves".<ref>''Political prisoner Boris Stomakhin'', page 10</ref> According to priest ], "Stomakin made a picture of ] with ]? Well, I believe that not only Putin and his generals deserve to wear swastika, but also all Russian civilians who pretend that they know nothing about the genocide of Chechens and discrimination of Georgians in Russia"<ref>''Political prisoner Boris Stomakhin'', page 14</ref>
According to Sokolov the cited passages made application of the article 282 completely appropriate, although the court sentence did not cite this article as a reason of Stomakhin conviction.

Stomakhin was qualified as a ]" by the ] and as a ] in an open letter send to ] leaders by Russia's human rights activists ], ].

A group of Russian citizens including ] condemned the conviction of Stomakhin as prosecution of ].<ref name="Bukovsky"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210222840/http://www.zaborisa.narod.ru/ds.html |date=2007-02-10 }}</ref>

Widow of ] ] compared Stomakhin with Soviet dissidents who were prosecuted for their writings by ].<ref name="Bonner"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210223146/http://www.zaborisa.narod.ru/lena.html |date=2007-02-10 }}.</ref>

Human rights activist ] and politician ] argued that Stomakhin's writings while being "absolutely outrageous" and "inciting national hatred" had not been a public threat: they were very unlikely to incite anybody <ref name="Opinions"> - by Anna Karpuk for grani.ru</ref><ref name="Val1"> - by ] for grani.ru</ref><ref name="Val2"> - by ] for grani.ru</ref>

Journalist Vladimir Abarinov criticized court proceedings as an example of ]<ref name="Abarinov"> - by Vladimir Abarinov for grani.ru.</ref> He claimed that the criminal case against Stomakhin was opened based on solely an article about ] that was not written by Stomakhin. It was decided by the court that Stomakhin actually copied this article from a ] entry, as well as other publications of numerous news agencies.<ref name="Sentence"/> The authors of the original work disagree to share their responsibility with Stomakhin citing that he had reproduced their works without permission and distorted the original meaning.<ref name="Abarinov"/>

===Criticism===
M. Smolin from ] described views of Stomakhin as extremely ].<ref name="KM">{{Dead link|date=October 2015}}</ref>

Critics of the court decision were denounced by publicist {{Interlanguage link multi|Maxim Yuryevich Sokolov|ru|3=Соколов, Максим Юрьевич (журналист)|lt=Maxim Sokolov}}. In his article published in '']'' newspaper after the conviction of Stomakhin<ref name="Izves"> (''Catch 282''), Maxim Sokolov, ] 23 November 2006</ref> he remarked that Stomakhin's writings were worse than ] by ] ("Against this backdrop, Mein Kampf is a textbook of humanism.") and that the ] must be prosecuted according to the article 282 of the Russian criminal code. He cited in support a text written by Boris Stomakhin, that "] and ] must be exterminated" by all available means including ], because all Russians are collectively responsible for actions of their government with respect to ]. According to Sokolov, the cited passage made application of the article 282 completely appropriate.<ref name="Sentence"/>

Aleksandr Cherkasov of the human rights center ] stated that they did not consider Stomakhin ], because his writings did call for discrimination and violence. At the same time he described the punishment as excessive, because Stomakhin did not organize any criminal acts.<ref name=arka/>


==References== ==References==
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Latest revision as of 01:54, 5 April 2024

Boris Vladimirovich Stomakhin (Russian: Борис Владимирович Стомахин) (born August 24, 1974 in Moscow) is a Russian radical political activist, and editor of "Radical politics" periodical. He was convicted three times for hate speech, incriminating him advocating a dismemberment of the Russian Federation and inciting ethnic and religious hatred, and justification of terrorism. The convictions have been questioned by human rights organizations ARTICLE 19, Committee to Protect Journalists, and Union of Councils for Soviet Jews.

Journalism and political activism

Stomakhin was a member of Maoist Revolutionary Workers Party. Later he became a leader of a radical political group "Revolutionary Contact Association" (RCA).

Since 2000, Boris Stomakhin was an editor of the monthly newspaper "Radical Politics". In addition, he contributed numerous materials to Kavkaz Center, the radical Islamic internet agency that promoted the independence of Chechnya and is maintained by Chechen separatists.

According to Russian court, Stomakhin called for the violent overthrow of government, claimed that Russian troops in Chechnya are "occupiers", compared President Vladimir Putin to Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milošević., called modern Russia "an Evil empire" that must be destroyed, and considered Shamil Basaev and Salman Raduev as heroes of legitimate Chechen resistance.

According to Valeria Novodvorskaya and Yakov Krotov, Stomakhin did not actually promote any terrorist activities and became a political prisoner.

Opening of a criminal case against Stomakhin

Attempts to prosecute Stomakhin for hate speech were made unsuccessfully in 2000.

Successful application to prosecute Stomakhin was made by opposition Communist Party State Duma member Viktor Zorkaltsev at the request of another Communist party member Valentina Lavrova. Valentina Lavrova has acquired a copy of Stomakhin Radical Politics periodical, while being on rally in Mayakovsky Square, Moscow, in September 2002. Being insulted by the text of periodicals she hasn't rushed immediately to authorities, and began to collect the evidence by visiting public actions of Stomakhin and acquiring new numbers of his periodical. After collecting the evidence she referred not to police or security authorities, but to the member of parliament, Viktor Zorkaltsev.

Stomakhin's home was searched in April 2004 and his computers and books were confiscated. Stomakhin fled to Ukraine seeking political asylum, which was eventually denied.

Arrest and trial

Having returned to Moscow, Stomakhin was arrested on March 21, 2006. Stomakhin tried to escape during his arrest and fell down from fourth floor of his building, according to his lawyer Alexei Golubev and news reports. His spine and bones were broken as a result.

Stomakhin was subsequently interrogated. Psychiatry experts at the Moscow Serbsky Institute found that Stomakhin was competent to stand trial.

He was sentenced to five years of prison for inciting hatred and defamatory statements aimed at groups and persons of particular religious and ethnic background and for promoting violent change of constitutional regime and violation of territorial integrity of Russian Federation (articles 280 and 282 of the Russian Criminal Code).

In five years after his arrest on 21 March 2011 Somakhin was released from jail.

Second arrest, new criminal case and conviction

Boris Stomakhin was arrested again at his apartment Nov. 20 2012 and on a charge of violating the "anti-extremist" articles of the Criminal Code (articles 282 and 205 of the Criminal Code). Detention was the anniversary of his conviction in 2006. Court authorized his detention until 9 February 2013. The investigation was opened on July 10, 2012 and, although this was not mentioned anywhere, and Stomakhin summonses for questioning did not get up to the time of his detention.

The subject of the charges brought against the 21 November 2012 and served as the signature of three articles Stomakhin published on the Internet, namely, "Do not let another Holocaust" and "Untermensch" (in Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code, "excitement hatred and hostility on grounds of nationality or origin"), and "Mourning" (in Part 1 of the Criminal Code st.205.2, "public justification of terrorism"). In case are other article signed Stomakhin published since 2001 and (also before his first arrest). The investigation Stomakhin refused to give evidence in accordance with Article 51 of the Constitution.

The arrest of journalist was condemned by a number of public figures, including historian and sociologist Alec D. Epstein, journalists Daniel Kotsjubinsky and Vladimir Pribylovsky, a former member of the Federation Council Alexei Manannikov, the former Soviet dissidents and political prisoners Adele Naydenovich, Natalya Gorbanevskaya, Andrey Derevyankin, Paul Lyuzakov, Elena Sannikova, Alexander Podrabinek, and Cyril Podrabinek, Valeria Novodvorskaya., Pyotr Verzilov. A campaign for his release. So, on the actions of the Russian opposition to 2012-2013 s raised banners with the text "Free Boris Stomakhin", his portraits with the inscription "Boris Stomakhin. 5 years in prison" were pasted on the walls Russian embassy in Berlin the night of January 16, 2013 and during the campaign in support of arrested activists of the Russian opposition, more than 100 opposition signed a petition demanding the release Stomakhin.

22 April 2014 Stomakhin was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison. 15 July 2014 sentence has been approved by Moscow city court.

Third trial

After the third trial, on April 20, 2015 the sentence was extended to 7 years.

European Court of Human Rights decision

In May 2018 the European Court of Human Rights found that the Stomakhin’s punishment was not proportionate to the legitimate aims pursued and awarded him EUR 12,500 in respect of non-pecuniary damage.

Release and emigration

In September 2019 Stomakhin was released from imprisonment. In November 2019 he left Russia and asked for asylum in Ukraine.

Commentaries

Support

Alexander Litvinenko said that "people like Boris are the most dangerous for the Putin's regime that deceived millions of Russians, brought them to their knees and transformed them to slaves". According to priest Yakov Krotov, "Stomakin made a picture of Putin with swastika? Well, I believe that not only Putin and his generals deserve to wear swastika, but also all Russian civilians who pretend that they know nothing about the genocide of Chechens and discrimination of Georgians in Russia"

Stomakhin was qualified as a prisoner of conscience" by the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews and as a political prisoner in an open letter send to G7 leaders by Russia's human rights activists Sergei Kovalev, Yelena Bonner.

A group of Russian citizens including Vladimir Bukovsky condemned the conviction of Stomakhin as prosecution of free speech.

Widow of Andrei Sakharov Elena Bonner compared Stomakhin with Soviet dissidents who were prosecuted for their writings by Yuri Andropov.

Human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina and politician Valeria Novodvorskaya argued that Stomakhin's writings while being "absolutely outrageous" and "inciting national hatred" had not been a public threat: they were very unlikely to incite anybody

Journalist Vladimir Abarinov criticized court proceedings as an example of kangaroo court He claimed that the criminal case against Stomakhin was opened based on solely an article about Russian Orthodox Church that was not written by Stomakhin. It was decided by the court that Stomakhin actually copied this article from a Live Journal entry, as well as other publications of numerous news agencies. The authors of the original work disagree to share their responsibility with Stomakhin citing that he had reproduced their works without permission and distorted the original meaning.

Criticism

M. Smolin from Komsomolskaya Pravda described views of Stomakhin as extremely Russophobic.

Critics of the court decision were denounced by publicist Maxim Sokolov [ru]. In his article published in Izvestia newspaper after the conviction of Stomakhin he remarked that Stomakhin's writings were worse than Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler ("Against this backdrop, Mein Kampf is a textbook of humanism.") and that the hate speech must be prosecuted according to the article 282 of the Russian criminal code. He cited in support a text written by Boris Stomakhin, that "Russian Federation and Russians must be exterminated" by all available means including nuclear bomb, because all Russians are collectively responsible for actions of their government with respect to Chechen people. According to Sokolov, the cited passage made application of the article 282 completely appropriate.

Aleksandr Cherkasov of the human rights center Memorial stated that they did not consider Stomakhin political prisoner, because his writings did call for discrimination and violence. At the same time he described the punishment as excessive, because Stomakhin did not organize any criminal acts.

References

  1. Lenin, facsists and sexual minorities freedom Archived 2007-07-02 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ^ Official Court Sentence on Russian language dated 20.11.2006 Archived 2007-02-11 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Independent journalist given five-year sentence allegedly for inciting ethnic strife". Archived from the original on 2007-01-01. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
  4. Boris Stomakhin:Victim of the Regime or a Terrorist Radio Liberty (in Russian)
  5. ^ Stomakhin Case - by Vladimir Abarinov for grani.ru.
  6. Radical politics and unrestrainted silliness Archived 2009-09-19 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Prima News Agency report Archived 2006-11-16 at the Wayback Machine
  8. NewsRu Agency report
  9. Regnum News Agency report
  10. Grani News Agency report
  11. Human Rights Activists Website of Valeria Novodvorskaya article
  12. Center of Extremal Journalism article
  13. RIAN News Agency investigation Archived 2011-05-22 at the Wayback Machine
  14. RIAN News Agency news article
  15. Text of Stomakhin's sentence Archived 2007-02-11 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
  16. "От звонка до звонка". Kasparov.ru. 22 March 2011. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
  17. Chronicle of a new criminal case against Boris Stomakhin
  18. Alex Epstein, "The Glass Bead Game Boris Stomakhin"
  19. Alexander Podrabinek "Human Rights cross"
  20. Valeria Novodvorskaya "Unprotected opposition"
  21. Berlin Action in defense of Russian political prisoners in Berlin
  22. Freedom Boris Stomakhin! No harassment for thoughts and words!
  23. ^ Суд приговорил публициста Бориса Стомахина к семи годам заключения
  24. CASE OF STOMAKHIN v. RUSSIA
  25. Публицист Борис Стомахин уехал из России после освобождения из колонии
  26. Political prisoner Boris Stomakhin, page 10
  27. Political prisoner Boris Stomakhin, page 14
  28. Open letter in support of Boris Stomakhin Archived 2007-02-10 at the Wayback Machine
  29. Letter by Sannikova and Bonner Archived 2007-02-10 at the Wayback Machine.
  30. Conviction of Boris Stomakhin: Opinions (Russian) - by Anna Karpuk for grani.ru
  31. Scapegoats - by Valeria Novodvorskaya for grani.ru
  32. Second-hand fascism - by Valeria Novodvorskaya for grani.ru
  33. Komsomolskaya Pravda article
  34. "Ловушка-282" (Catch 282), Maxim Sokolov, Izvestia 23 November 2006

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