Public Collegium of Journalists Finds Russian National Media Body Responsible for Anti-Romani Speech

11 March 2008

ERRC Victory against Anti-Romani Hate Speech in Russian Media

Budapest, Moscow: Today, the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) welcomed a decision of the Public Collegium of the Russian Union of Journalists (Collegium) made public on 28 February 2008 against the Russian national television station First Channel (ORT) concerning the spread of anti-Romani sentiment. The Collegium's decision, issued on 22 February 2008, relates to a complaint filed by the ERRC on 23 July 2007 against ORT General Director Mr Konstantin Ernst following the broadcast a programme entitled "Man and the Law" on 8 February 2007.

The substance of the complaint related statements made by the anchorman, a Mr Pimanov, who stated, "[…] today we shall talk about the other Roma, whom you meet on the train stations, in trains, in subway. You have to know only this – they are the members of organised criminal groups." Mr Pimanov then asserted that despite the existence of different groups of Roma, all of them are entirely criminals: "Romani women, whom Rustem Davidov (the journalist of a broadcast) interviewed conducting a special operation, are called kalderary on a criminal slang. There are also lovari – resident thieves, servi – pickpockets, ungri, vlakhy, plaschuny, and cherni. Davidov was lucky that there were no plaschuny near kalderary. Those could kill, not merely rob". For further details on this case, please see: http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2733&archiv=1.

The ERRC filed its complaint after first having sent a letter of concern on 19 March 2007 to Mr Ernst, copied to the Federal Administration of Rosohrancultura, which was not answered.

During the proceedings, in which the ERRC was represented by Ms Irina Sergeeva of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Mr Ernst denied having received "any claims regarding the programme, or in particular mentioning of the people of Romani ethnicity". Ms Nadezhda Demeter, a Romani activist from Moscow, gave testimony during the proceedings, stating that "such statements are very harmful for Roma."

In its decision, the Collegium, taking into account all arguments:

• Considered the programme to be an insulting gesture towards Roma, in particular as broadcasted by First Channel.
   
• Suggested First Channel should consider coming back to this topic in future segments of "Man and the Law" and explain the previous segment in order to avoid the development of hostile attitudes toward Roma.
• Suggested the journalists should respect professional and ethical rules and avoid intolerant statements in their publications and programmes related to race, sexual orientation, language, religion etc.
   
• Requested that First Channel and Ostankino, its partner in the proceedings, discuss the decision with their staff and inform the Collegium of the results of their discussion.
   
• ORT was further requested to publish the Collegium's decision in the Russian magazines "Journalist" and "Information Law", discuss the decision with journalism students at the Moscow State University, and inform the Federal Administration of Rosohrancultura and Commission of the Public Collegium of the Russian Federation on Communication, Information Politics and Freedom of Speech in the Media about the decision.

The ERRC welcomes the decision of the Public Collegium of the Russian Union of Journalists, which represents a major precedent in combating widespread anti-Romani speech in Russia. The ERRC looks forward to similar strong stances in the future in similar cases.

The ERRC complaint was part of comprehensive actions to combat hate speech against Roma in the Russia media, supported by the Royal Netherlands Foreign Ministry.

Русский вариант настоящего пресс-релиза доступен

For further information, please contact:
Azam Bayburdi, ERRC Legal Assistant, azam.bayburdi@errc.org (English and Russian)
Tara Bedard, ERRC Programmes Coordinator, tara.bedard@errc.org (English)