Extreme nationalist brought to court for fiery swastika (Russia)

A man in Siberia’s Kemerovo region has been charged after he dug a giant swastika in a local forest, filled it with gasoline, and set it on fire.
The 45-year-old resident of the city Tashtagol did his landscape fire show on May 9 last year – the date of Russia’s national holyday marking the victory over Nazi Germany – which naturally led investigators to suspecting neo-Nazis responsible for the act.
The perpetrator, however, claimed after police found him that he is an old-believer and that setting on fire a solar symbol to celebrate spring was an archaic Slav tradition, local media report. He failed to explain how such a pagan ritual fits into being a member of the traditionalist Christian sect, which split from the mainstream Russian Orthodox Church in 17th century.
A subsequent search of the man’s apartment revealed that he was far from being a peaceful sun worshipper. Police seized instructions for bomb-making, unregistered firearms and rounds, and extremist propaganda material. He also had a stockpile of marijuana. Neighbours report that he was a vocal nationalist and anti-Semite, police add.

Prosecutors have charged the intolerant man with inciting hatred, illegal possession of arms and drugs.

RT

Kazan Court Hands Down Suspended Sentence to Anti-Fascist (Russia)

court in Kazan, Russia (Republic of Tatarstan) handed down a suspended sentence to an anti-fascist for assaulting a neo-Nazi last year, according to a February 10, 2010 article in the local supplement to the

national daily "Kommersant." Denis Shelepov, age 21, and a group of unidentified young people threw bricks and bottles at university student Aleksandr Naumenko, a neo-Nazi, on June 10, 2009, causing

injury to his face. The victim identified Mr. Shelepov, who was charged with "hooliganism motivated by ideological hatred and animosity," a rarely used statute.
Local police sources told "Kommersant" that both neo-Nazi and anti-fascist gangs became active in Kazan at the beginning of 2008, engaging in propaganda and occasional brawls. Last May, a Kazan court sentenced two anti-fascists in connection with the stabbing of a neo-Nazi teenager. A court in the nearby city of
Naberezhnye Chelny handed down suspended sentences to two anti-fascists in connection with an assault on two neo-Nazis. There is no information in the report about neo-Nazi violence against anti-fascists--a
disturbingly common phenomenon in other Russian cities.
UCSJ