Political terror in Mari El

1. Political terror in Mari El Anna Rönngård

2. Basic facts about Mari El • One of Russias 89 republics • Capital: Yoshkar Ola • Population: over 760 000 (2000) • State of government: 67 deputies and 1 president • Languages: Russia (47%), Mari (43%), Tatar, Chuvash, Udmurt and others (10%) • Finno-Ugric nation • Resources: forest, metal industry, food processing

3. Recent history of the republic • 1920 - an autonomous region • 1936 - the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created • 1990 - the Supreme Soviet of Mari declared sovereignty of the republic • 1991 – a member of UNPO • 1992 - the republic changed it name from Mari to Mari El

4. Presidential elections in Mari El • January 1997, both final candidates were Russian speaking with no nowledge of the Mari language - Kislitsy won. • 2001, a native of Moscow who does not speak the Mari language won the elections – Leonid Markelov • 19 december 2004, Markelov was re-elected with 57 % of the votes in the first round • Since 1997 the situation of the native Mari speaking people has become worse and worse

5. Current situation in Mari El • Since 1997 many Mari officials have been removed from key positions in society • Journalists are frequently beaten by people who never got caught by authorities • The republic’s independent newspapers is no longer independent • During Markelovs time in office, hundreds of Mari officials and teachers have been fired on false pretences • The number of Mari civil servant to loose their jobs can rise to 1,000

6. Crimes against journalists and opposition leaders in Mari El • Examples from a list of many crimes during Markelovś presidency: • November 2001: Aleksandr Babaykin, assistant chief editor of the opposition newspaper The Good Neighbours, is brutally killed in the centre of Yoshkar-Ola • March 2002: Vladimir Maltsev, chief editor of the newspaper The Good Neighbours, is attacked and caused severe bodily injures, two days later the door of his apartment is poured over with fuel and put on fire by unknown persons

7. Crimes against journalists and opposition leaders in Mari El • January 2005: correspondent of the radio Liberty/radio Free Europe Yelena Rogacheva, is attacked • February 2005: Vladimir Kozlov, chief editor of the international Finno-Ugric newspaper, member of the Consultative Committee of the World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples and leader of the all-Russian movement of Mari people, was attacked and severely beaten

8. Crimes against journalists and opposition leaders in Mari El • Nothing has been done by the local authorities to try to stop the discrimination and attacks against the Mari people • Nothing has been done to find out the identity on the attackers • The beating: 2-3 strikes at the back of the head with an iron pipe, continued after the person has fallen to the ground

9. What actions are taken to stop this? • The opposition (Mari people) has appealed to courts after the presidential election • The council of the Mari El Association has wrote a letter of actions addressed to all people in power in Mari El • The Estonian Institute for Human Rights called to support Mari people on the 28th of February with a press relase, calling on Russia to stop persecuting Mari journalists and leaders of political opposition, as well as infringing on the rights of the minority people in Mari El

10. What actions are taken to stop this? • The issue of violation of human rights of the Mari minority will 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 on their agenda • The situation in Mari El is receiving extensive media coverage in Finland and Estonia

11. What actions are taken to stop this? • The European Comission was adressing this problem on April 26th at talks with the Russian parliament

12. Conclusion • The future of Mari people is still unknown • The European Union has given the people hope that there will be an end to the discrimination