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Published by Stetson
University Russia Religion News, July 28,
2004
Supreme Court rules against neopagans
DESIRE TO PLACE CROSS ON OLD BELIEVERS
by Yulia Mikhailina
Gazeta, 27 July
2004 - On Tuesday the Supreme Court of Russia
reviewed the appeal of the religious association
of Omsk Old Believers-Inglinists. On the basis of
a suit by the Chief Directorate of the Ministry of
Justice, the society of Inglinists was liquidated
by decision of the Omsk provincial court. Their
teaching--Slavic Aryan Vedas--in the opinion of
the Ministry of Justice and the provincial court,
contains the idea of racial supremacy and its
chief symbol is the swastika. The Supreme Court
left the decision of the Omsk court in force.
This does not yet signify the end of the existence
of the Inglinist society. In addition to the
court of review, where their attorney Lidiia
Okhrimenko, intends to file a protest, appeals of
a number of religious associations that use the
swastika among their symbols will be reviewed in
the Constitutional Court. Meanwhile, the text of
the federal law adopted in 2002, "On preserving
the memory of the victory of the soviet people in
the Great Patriotic was of 1941-1945" forbids the
use of nazi symbols in any form.
The full name of the Omsk Inglinists sounds like
the Asgard Slavic Society of the Religious
Administration of the Asgard Belovod Ancient
Russian Inglinist Church of Orthodox Old Believers
Inglinists. In June 1998 this association was
officially registered in the provincial department
of the Ministry of Justice. And most likely the
small society would have existed peacefully to the
present if it were not for the idea of decorating
their premises with an enormous swastika.
The Inglinists did not respond to the warning from
the Ministry of Justice and the request to remove
the dubious symbol, and in June 2003 the Chief
Directorate of the Ministry of Justice filed a
suit for the liquidation of the religious
association. "In all there were three suits,
against all subdivisions of the Inglinists," the
chief of the Department for Relations with Public
and Religious Associations of the Directorate of
the Ministry of Justice for Omsk province,
Vladimir Fediaev, told Gazeta. "The Slavic
Community of the Temple of the Faith of Perun, The
Asgard Slavic Community, and a men's
ecclesiastical seminary. Then they were joined
into a single proceeding."
According to experts of the Ministry of Justice,
the Slavic Aryan Vedas of the Inglinists contain
assertions about the supremacy of the white race
and forbid members of the society to enter mixed
marriages. in addition, the call of the veda "not
to live according to laws that people have created
in order to deprive people of Liberty but live
according to the laws of the One God" violates the
law "On freedom of conscience and religious
associations."
And finally, the symbols of the Inglinists include
the swastika and the form of greeting
characteristic for fascists, raising the right
hand, which are violations of laws for combating
extremist activity and preserving the memory of
the victory of the soviet people in the Great
Patriotic war.
"The doctrine of the Inglinists does not contain
any assertion about the supremacy of the white
race," Attorney Lidia Okhimenko told Gazeta in her
turn. "It says that every nationality should
preserve its indigenous culture, fundamental
faith, and traditions. In addition, Inglinists do
not try to impose their faith on anybody so that
the accusation of extremism is baseless."
As regards the swastika, according to Okhrimenko,
the kolovrat (or symbol of the rising Yarila Sun)
of the Inglinists substantially differs from the
variant adopted by the nazis. "Their swastika
stands on edge at 45 degrees. Usually it is black
in a white circle on a red background. The
Inglinists use only red and blue colors."
Despite all claims of the defense, in April 2004
the Omsk provincial court satisfied the suit of
the Ministry of Justice and rendered a decision
for the liquidation of the religious association
of Old Believer Inglinists. The Supreme Court on
Tuesday left this decision in force.
Now the attorney will file a complaint with the
court of review. But the problem of the
Inglinists will be dealt with not only by courts
of general jurisdiction. A complaint about a
contradiction between the law on preserving the
memory of victory and the constitution of Russia
will be reviewed by the Constitutional Court
where, according to Okhrimenko "a number of
religious organizations have appealed." The point
is that this law forbids any use of nazi
symbolism. At the same time the ancient Hindu
symbol is used by many religious confessions. So
that if one follows the law it will be necessary
to declare several Buddhist temples, Christian
icons, and monuments of architecture to be
prohibited. Today this problem has been more or
less smoothed over in Moscow. In the by-laws of
the city it is especially noted that "sanctions
provided by law are not applicable if the use of
nazi symbolism occurs within artistic or
scientific films presenting historic events, and
also representations of religious rituals and
traditions using signs of national heraldric
symbolism of Russia and other countries and also
when the symbols cannot be viewed as nazi." (tr.
by PDS)
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