Russian Law Enforcement Officers Continue with Racial Profiling of Roma
18 May 2007
According to numerous reports in Russian regional press and leading Internet information sources, at the end of September 2006, Samara regional law enforcement authorities launched a new police operation called "Tabor- 2006". This name points directly to members of the Romani minority since "tabor" is the Russian name for Romani settlements. On 27 September 2006, the online information source regions.ru quoted police officials as having underlined that the main objective of the operation is "the exposure and suppression of crimes related to the legalisation of financial resources and other property obtained as a result of committing of drug-related crimes by the criminal ethnic groups." However, several other online information sources have drawn explicit links between the activities of Samara regional law enforcement authorities within similar operations and persons belonging to the Romani ethnic minority. For example, on the same date, tltnews.ru published the following:
"[…] within the framework of operation "Tabor 2005," carried out last year in the course of work amongst persons from Romani and other ethnic groups, the illegal activity of organised criminal groups have been precluded. According to information provided by the Press Service of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service in the Region of Samara, these groups have organised channels for the contraband delivery of drugs to the territory of Russia."
On 10 October, the ERRC sent a letter to the Department Chief of the Ministry of Interior of the Samara Region, urging immediate actions to end abusive police operations targeting Roma in the region of Samara. The letter was copied to the General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation. The full text of the letter is available at http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2635. As of 1 November, the ERRC had not received any response from Russian officials.
The ERRC has repeatedly raised concerns related to similar police operations conducted in Cheboksary, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yaroslavl, and other cities and regions in Russia, especially when reports of abusive raids and invidious investigations against Roma living in segregated or mixed settlements had been received. Further information about police operations known as "Tabor" in Russia is available in the ERRC's Country Report "In Search of Happy Gypsies: Persecution of Pariah Minorities in Russia." The full text of the report is available HERE.
(ERRC, Romani Duma)
