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 thenational 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
