Police Raid on Romani Settlement in Western Russia
07 May 2002
The Moscow-based Romani organisation Romano Kher reported that on March 29, 2001, between fifteen and twenty masked members of the Fast Reaction Group (SOBR), a police unit operating under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, raided a community of more than seventy Romani families in the village of Dorozhnyj, in Kaliningrad Province in Western Russia, and beat some of the residents,. According to Romano Kher, a 55 year-old Romani man who was sitting in his car at the time stated that the members of SOBR dragged him from his car and, without any explanation, began beating him. The SOBR members then allegedly broke into several Romani households in the village, armed with machine guns, shouting: "Everybody on the floor" and beating Roma inside with the butt of their guns and wooden sticks taken from a fence outside.
Romano Kher reported that when one Romani man asked the SOBR members why they were being raided, a masked officer hit him with a stick on the neck and on the legs. The SOBR members then allegedly ordered several Roma to crawl into the yard where they were forced to lean on cars and submit to body searches. A young Romani man L.P. was allegedly beaten by police officers. The youth's father, Mr M.P. was reportedly hit in the kidneys when he attempted to help his son. Officers reportedly told him to "stand still or he would have his brains sprinkled on the asphalt." An unnamed 9-year-old Romani girl told Romano Kher that she was home alone with her father, who had had a heart operation days before the incident, when several masked men broke into their home. She stated that when her father asked to call for an ambulance because he felt pain in his heart, the masked men laughed at him and beat him. They then reportedly took a sausage from the refrigerator and left. According to Romano Kher, following the raid, members of SOBR allegedly drove around the village stopping several Roma and beating them, and also stealing from them. The raid reportedly lasted for approximately two or three hours. Several Roma were taken to hospital with injuries of various levels of seriousness, and others were taken to the local police station for clarification of identity, then reportedly released shortly after the check.
In an interview with Romano Kher, Mr A. Mikhailov, the head of SOBR, reportedly stated that the raid took place in search of a suspect and that, though the "Gypsies" had resisted, no abuse of power had taken place. The Moscow-based non-governmental organisation Roma Autonomy alleges that the Kaliningrad district prosecutor promised to make an inquiry, but as of the beginning of March 2002, no one has been held responsible for the incident.
(Roma Autonomy, Romano Kher)
