http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/600/42/377521.htm
No Jail for Nationalist Leader Found Guilty of Hate Speech
29 May 2009The Moscow TimesA Moscow court on Thursday convicted the
ex-leader of the radical Movement Against Illegal Immigration, or DPNI, of hate
speech at an ultranationalist rally two years ago and handed him an 18-month
suspended sentence.
The Dorogomilovsky District Court convicted Alexander Belov, 33, of
inciting ethnic hatred with derogatory statements about natives of the Caucasus
in his 2007 speech at the ultranationalist demonstration, his group said.
Belov was given a suspended prison term for inciting ethnic hatred, the
group said on its web site. The court also handed him two years probation.
Should Belov be convicted of a crime within two years, he will be forced
to serve the entirety of the 18-month sentence in prison in addition to
whatever punishment he might receive for the second crime.
Belov will appeal the verdict within 10 days, the group said.
Belov resigned as the movement's leader in April because of the charges.
Meanwhile, a senior prosecutor said Russia has seen a rise in racially
and religiously motivated crimes in recent years.
Authorities registered 187 such crimes nationwide in the first four
months of this year, compared to 460 for all of last year, Vyacheslav Sizov,
head of a department dealing with interethnic relations at the Prosecutor
General's Office, told RIA-Novosti.
These crimes are increasingly being committed by young people, Sizov
said. There are some 200 ultranationalist groups nationwide with a total of up
to 10,000 members, Sizov said.
Nationalists hold so-called "Russian Marches" annually across the country
on Nov. 4, People's Unity Day, a holiday created by President Vladimir Putin in
2005 to commemorate the liberation of Moscow from Polish invaders in 1612.
The holiday replaced another national holiday, the anniversary of the
1917 Bolshevik Revolution, which had been celebrated on Nov. 7.
City Hall has authorized nationalist Russian Marches -- where Belov made
his incendiary comments -- three out of the past four years.
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