"Nearly all laws in the country are aimed at protecting the
government, courts and police. Federal referendums are prohibited.
The hopeless misery of Russian
immigrants in Germany
27.10.2012 15:53
The Russian-speaking population in Germany suffers from
infringement of their civil rights by local authorities more than any
other ethnic minority. Human rights lawyer Henry Murray, who
defends the rights of Russian immigrants, believes that Russian
immigrants in Germany find themselves in a "penal military unit,"
from which there is no escape.
"Why did you decide to take up human rights defense?"
"Me and my parents came to Germany in 1992. I graduated a
university with a specialization in "Private International Law" and
received a Master of International Law. I became interested in the
subject of human rights during my studies. Just because I saw that
our former compatriots, who had moved to Germany, were not
protected from the arbitrariness of the authorities. Their human
rights are violated in many cases.
"When we opened an office of the German League for Human
Rights in Cologne (this is one of the oldest human rights
organizations in Germany, it started working almost 100 years ago
and was banned from 1933 to 1948), we saw that people were
scared to express their views on the existent situation. They feared
that they and they families could face pressure from the authorities.
For example, people could be deprived of social benefits and health
insurance, problems could occur at work too.
"I am convinced that there is no rule of law in Germany, unlike, for
instance, in the UK, Switzerland, France and the USA. Few people
know that in almost 70 years of its post-war existence, Germany
has not obtained its own constitution. Even though German
authorities continuously trumpet at every corner that there is
constitution in Germany - it is not true. It is the temporary Basic Law
from 1949 that replaces it.
Litigations are extremely expensive. The government seems to
grant the right for a free lawyer, but it will be a lawyer on the part of
the court, and therefore, the trial will be lost in 70-80 percent of
cases. A court of second instance takes place even without your
participation: it is only the judge and the lawyers of the parties. That
is to say, you can be convicted, even without your participation.
"Finally, the most amazing aspect is that the judge never signs the
verdict personally. We have repeatedly submitted requirements to
provide us with original documents, but we'd always get a copy with
the name of the judge printed on it without his signature. Perhaps
this is because a judge here is not an elected position as it is in
other European countries. A judge is appointed by the Justice
Minister of a certain territory. It is possible, though, that the main
reason lies in the absence of responsibility of the state for the
damage incurred by the actions of a public body or a public official.
Each "official" carries responsibility by their personal property under
Article 839 of the German Civil Code. Why would a judge take the
risk?
"Thus, it is clear that a "sentence" without judicial signature from a
legal point of view is void and completely deprived of legal force.
"What are the main challenges that you face in protecting the rights
of Russian citizens?"
"One of our first high-profile cases was the defense of Eugene
Skvortsov. His story is very indicative in terms of the attitude of the
German judicial system to Russian-speaking citizens.
"The young man was invited to his friend's birthday on the outskirts
of Düsseldorf. The company gathered in a local park. Eugene did
not stay there all the time - he left to pick up his fiancé, and came
back when everyone was about to leave. A police car approached
the company at that moment. Several people, including Eugene,
were arrested. As it turned out later, there was a fight in the park
between a drunk Russian guy and police officers. However, it was
Eugene Skvortsov who was charged with showing resistance to
police.
"Prior to the court session, I noticed how happy police
representatives and the judge were to shake hands with each other
- as if they had parted only yesterday after a picnic. The interpreter,
whom the court provided, was telling us all the time that we should
not disturb the judge with our claims. When Eugene protested and
said that he would find his own interpreter, he was denied the right
to do that.
"By the way, this is a recurring problem. The court does not
consider it necessary to provide an interpreter to a Russian-
speaking citizen. This contradicts to the ruling of the Constitutional
Court of Germany that says that the verdicts that can affect the
destiny of a person should be translated simultaneously and
literally. But if a person does not know his or her rights, the rights
can easily be broken.
"That was the first time when I came across undisguised
Russophobia on the part of authorities. One of police officers told
the court that "if many Russian-speaking people gather in one
place, one shall expect trouble." Russians always drink themselves
into a stupor in the park, the officer added.
"The officer also said that he heard shouts in Russian which made
them drive to the park. I asked him to that: "Do you know Russian?"
The judge immediately took me up sharply - it was irrelevant to the
case. I asked why because there are many languages that sound
alike - Polish, Bulgarian, Serbian, Ukrainian. The judge responded
as follows: "I want you to shut your mouth, and I don't want to hear
it." I had to stir up a scandal by saying that it was a trial, at which
the man was judged for being Russian. After that, the charges were
dropped."
"What is the reason for this Russophobia? It seems that the war
ended a long time ago."
"The war may have ended, but the Germans are not aware of it. As
the saying goes, the enemy is not informed. The children of a good
friend of mine have recently brought a rhyme from the
kindergarten, which they learned there: "You give us oil - we punch
you in the teeth, you give us gas, we punch you in the eye!" This is
quite revealing, isn't it?
"Local authorities turn a blind eye on virtually all offenses committed
by the local population against Russian-speaking individuals. I
recall a shocking case when an employee of the German Embassy
in Moscow ran over two students at a pedestrian crossing driving
his Porche Cayenne at a high speed. The students were killed.
"In Germany, where he had fled after the incident, he was
sentenced to one year on probation. He also received a driving ban
for a month and a fine of 5,000 euros. However, under the German
law, a violation of traffic rules and the rules of operation of transport,
resulting in the death of several people, the driver can be sentenced
to ten years in prison."
"What problems do Russian immigrants come to you with?"
"Last year we had over 1,500 complaints about violations of human
rights. In total, there were almost 4, 000 of them over the past few
years. I would like to say that all immigrants from Russia have their
own problems. Those who don't have them yet will surely find them.
"This is what happened to former Russian biathlete Sergei Zaets.
Returning home after jogging, he saw police removing the license
plate from his car. It turned out later that there was a mistake at the
insurance company. He asked them to explain what was going on.
In response, the officers attacked him, shouting: "Get out of here, if
you don't like it." The man was severely beaten, he was
hospitalized. However, prosecutors accused him of attacking
several armed police officers.
"Sixty-two-year-old Georg Scharf was beaten senseless in his own
apartment, after special forces stormed his place. Later, however, it
turned out that they simply got the wrong door. We had to take
enormous efforts to receive a compensation for depriving the man
of his ability to work.
"There's also a story of Yuri Medvedev, who had his four children
taken away from him. The man moved to Germany from
Zheleznovodsk and married a Russian woman there. Problems
began when Yuri tried to figure out why his family had been
deprived of a part of social assistance.
The city authorities started to torment the man's family afterwards.
Child protection services took the family under tight control - they
were literally watching their every move. They soon took their elder
son when the boy was at school. When Yuri tried to go to Russia
with his other children, he was detained at the border with Poland.
He is now allowed to see them only two hours a month. Speaking
Russian is strictly forbidden, according to the written notice from a
custodial official. But in Germany there is no law which forbids
parents from communicating with their children in their native
language. This is a violation of international conventions on human
rights and children's rights. Yet, some petty officials do not care -
they decide everything.
"Lily Vanzidler has been fighting for the right to raise her own son
for several years. They tried to recognize her a mentally unstable
individual. The conclusion was made by the "doctor" recommended
by child protection services. The doctor had talked to the woman
once, and then he ruled that it was dangerous to leave the child
with the woman. Alternative expertise conducted by one of the most
experienced psychiatrists in Germany revealed the absurdity of
previously conducted expertise, and there are many of such
examples."
"The Russian press wrote about the wild situation with pensions,
which were deducted from social benefits of Russian immigrants."
"Russian pensioners in Germany are subjected to inexplicable
discrimination. Local authorities deduct about 150-200 euros from
their retirement benefits, which is the sum of the Russian pension.
To do this, they are forced to go to a Russian Consulate General in
Bonn and register the pension on their homeland there. Even if they
do not do that, the authorities still deduct the amount.
"It is worthy of note that for many years after the end of World War
II the German authorities were paying large reparations to victims of
the Holocaust around the world. Nowadays, the Russian pensioners
of Jewish religion residing in Germany are forced to pay "pension
reparations" to the German budget. This can be a clear indicator of
the sharp rise of anti-Semitism in the bodies of state power in
Germany.
"This rule does not apply to pensioners from Moldova, Ukraine,
Georgia and all other countries of the CIS - it touches upon only
immigrants from Russia. Pensions are too small in other countries -
German authorities can not be bothered with such a thing of no
importance. Russia raises payments, and officials take it for
additional income, which should be taken away from elderly people.
A war veteran, a disabled person, may go on trial soon, if he does
not return his pension of the last 20 years to the German authorities
- in the amount of 12,000 euros.
"What about human rights issues in Germany?"
"Here, the topic of criticism of Germany for the violation of human
rights is a very painful and strictly tabooed issue. For example, me
and my colleagues, our loved ones, were subjected and continue to
be subjected to the cruel pressure from the German authorities for
our efforts to defend the interests of our clients and inform the
general public about horrific violations of human rights in Germany.
"During all these years we've never been able to reach the German
press, although the facts that we provided were published abroad
easily - in the Russian Federation, France, Czech Republic,
Canada and the United States. But not in Germany. At first they
would respond like this: it is interesting, we will contact you.
Afterwards, they began to respond with irritation: the topic is
irrelevant. Only reporters from Bild and Express whispered to us in
their offices that if they published that, they would lose their jobs
and wouldn't be able to find new jobs anywhere. To our great
regret, we can say that most of Russian-language publications in
Germany are afraid to criticize the local authorities. They have to
praise the state system, not to get into trouble.
"As for well-known human rights organizations, everything is clear
with them too. For example, the German Helsinki Group has its
office in the Bundestag. Will it attack the German government? This
is a rhetorical question."
Svetlana Smetanina
Pravda.Ru

"Officials accused Russia of this lawlessness saying that Russia

has not entered into an appropriate agreement. However, such Дмитрий Судаков
problems do not arise with Turkey, Italy or Greece."

"But then a question arises: if everything is so bad, why don't

people leave?"

"In fact, many of them do. A few people are left from the first wave
that brought me to Germany: some died, some returned to Russia.
Each year, the inflow of migrants from Russia decreases further on.
I think that the number of those leaving Germany will grow every
year. However, it is a tough decision to make for those in their
forties and fifties - they have nowhere to go.

"We are often called (or at least used to be called) traitors. But
believe me, we all pay our price for his so-called "treason." One
may say that we got our "penal military unit" here."