WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
Posted on 06/27/2005 12:46:20 AM PDT by familyop
(IsraelNN.com) In a move reminiscent of the Stalinist era, or the Spanish Inquisition, Russia’s state prosecutor has begun probing whether a Russian translation of a code of Jewish law constitutes racist incitement.
Lawyers working for the state prosecutor ordered Rabbi Zinovy Kogan, chairman of the Congress of Jewish Organizations, to explain the contents of the 16th century codification of Jewish law, of paramount importance, the Sulchan Aruch, in order to determine what the code says about non-Jews.
The inquiry follows publication of a letter signed by 500 public figures, including 20 members of the nationalist Rodina party, calling on the state prosecutor to outlaw the Jewish religion and Jewish organizations in Russia.
Pinging...
...a little more info here.
Ping!
The inquiry follows publication of a letter signed by 500 public figures, including 20 members of the nationalist Rodina party, calling on the state prosecutor to outlaw the Jewish religion and Jewish organizations in Russia.
It's not a comment about President Putin on my part, BTW. His name isn't even mentioned in the news on this. I only post. You decide.
In reality, today’s authorities are no different from their predecessors. Like the Yeltsin administration, Putin’s team has come from under the wing of the old Soviet Communist Party. But unlike Yeltsin’s people, Putin’s team does not even try to hide the fact – rather, it cultivates the familial affinity. It is just as corporate, just as much built on personal loyalty and back-scratching and gets its support above all from the security forces.
As for the Prosecutor General’s Office, proclaimed the "state’s eye" 300 years ago, it never has been independent and is not today. Quite the contrary, as can be seen by the events of the last two years (18 months of which were under Putin), which have seen the prosecutors valiantly pursuing open opponents of the Kremlin and trying to frighten potential opponents. Also, the tradition of obtaining authorization from the top before investigating high- or even middle-ranking officials has not changed since Soviet times.
Link:
http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/5523-6.cfm
As to your last comment- I will say- Since before the Soviet times...since before Soviet times, and again...
For the moment, I'm a conscientious objector in the Putin Wars. I pinged Alouette because if anyone has the inside skinny on this insane prosecution, it's her.
That's probably true. Thanks for pinging to her.
Oh good grief, if history didn't show this kind of thing over and over it would be too bizarre to believe. Modern day Russia? Where's President Bush on this.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
...well said, and thank you for posting the information.
WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
So where are the quotes from said document of Jewish law ?
Aren't they public record?
If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
Is Putin completely nuts? He is if he allows this.
"The investigation was meant to review a ruling last month by Moscow prosecutors that the text did not inspire hatred and a criminal case was not warranted, said Kogan, chairman of the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations who published the translated text."
"The issue was brought up in January, when 19 lawmakers made the text the center of their appeal to prosecutors to conduct an investigation aimed at outlawing all Jewish organizations, accusing Jews of fomenting ethnic hatred and provoking anti-Semitism.
A group of rights advocates filed a complaint in February, asking prosecutors to determine whether the lawmakers' letter incited national and religious hatred and bring them to justice if it did, said Yevgeny Ikhlov, one of the activists who placed the complaint.
Prosecutors concluded in May the lawmakers' statement did not constitute a crime, but they were conducting a second investigation into the matter, Ikhlov told AP.
Inciting national and religious hatred is a criminal offense in Russia that carries a penalty of up to five years in jail.
Russia and the Soviet Union had a long history of state-sponsored anti-Semitism, including the residence restrictions in the Russian Empire, brutal pogroms at the turn of the 19th to 20th century, and Soviet-era discrimination against Jews.
The government no longer perpetuates anti-Semitism after the 1991 Soviet collapse, but many rights groups accuse Russian leaders of being silent in the face of xenophobia, expressed in the occasional desecration of Jewish cemeteries and more frequent skinhead attacks against dark-skinned foreigners."
"Lazar rejected the charge of anti-Semitism in the government, saying, "I tell you clearly: in the top echelons of government, the prosecutor's statement [announcing the original investigation and criminal complaint] shocked everyone. The chief rabbi also said that the resolution of the issue would prove to be a positive development in the ongoing fight against anti-Semitism in Russia."
And translation resumes. Hopefully without more troublemakers.
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