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Chronology for Roma in Russia
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| Date(s) |
Item |
| Mar 1 - 30, 2004 |
At least eight police officers abducted a three-member Romani family and tortured the young couple in front of their 8-year-old daughter. The officers reportedly beat the child as well. During the physical abuse, the officers stole the family’s gold jewelry and demanded 30 million Russian roubles. The following morning, the officers finally ceased torturing the couple when they agreed to pay 1 million Russian roubles. Four police officers were arrested on suspicion of extortion, group robbery and abuse of power in June 2004. (European Roma Rights Centre. 5/2005. In Search of Happy Gypsies: Persecution of Pariah Minorities in Russia. Country Report Series, No. 14. http://www.errc.org/db/01/4A/m0000014A.pdf) |
| Apr 11 - 12, 2004 |
Seven young men from the Romani community in the Tver region were beaten severely by security guards at a nightclub, after a leather jacket had been reported as missing. (European Roma Rights Centre. 5/2005. In Search of Happy Gypsies: Persecution of Pariah Minorities in Russia. Country Report Series, No. 14. http://www.errc.org/db/01/4A/m0000014A.pdf) |
| Apr 21 - 21, 2004 |
Police burned down Romany tents in a suburb of St. Petersburg. (The Moscow Times. 5/26/2004. "St. Pete Starts Operation Gypsy Camp") |
| May 21 - 21, 2004 |
Police show up at a Roma camp in Obukhovothat and shoot automatic rifles in the air, demanding that Roma leave the city. About 20 families live in the camp. (The Moscow Times. 5/26/2004. "St. Pete Starts Operation Gypsy Camp") |
| Aug 22 - 22, 2004 |
A Romani settlement was raided by six masked, drunk police officers. The officers broke into houses, beat several people, and demanded that the Roma give them money. They left the settlement with at least 10 Roma captives, and demanded 60,000 rubles for their release. The Roma were released the same evening after the families collected the money and gave it to the police. (Marion Baillot. 10/3/2004. "Russian Gypsies wronged on rights." The Washington Times.) |
| Feb 14 - 14, 2005 |
An arson attack on Roma resulted in the destruction of about 10 dwellings and the subsequent expulsion of approximately 400 Romanis in Iskitim. (European Roma Rights Centre. 5/2005. In Search of Happy Gypsies: Persecution of Pariah Minorities in Russia. Country Report Series, No. 14. http://www.errc.org/db/01/4A/m0000014A.pdf) |
| Jul 2005 |
A Romani settlement in Arkhangelsk was demolished by local authorities. The community accepted $110,000 as compensation for damages. (US Department of State. 3/6/2007. "Country Reports on Human Rights 2006: Russia." http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78835.htm) |
| Aug 1 - 30, 2005 |
An armed youth gang of about 20 attacked the house of a Romani family shouting "kill the gypsies." After a Molotov cocktail and other incendiary devices were thrown into the kitchen window, the owner of the house and his family were attacked as they fled into the yard. Eleven people were detained and charged with hooliganism, deliberate infliction of grievous bodily harm by an organized group motivated by ethnic hatred, and organization of and participation in an extremist group. All the defendants were found guilty. (US Department of State. 3/6/2007. "Country Reports on Human Rights 2006: Russia." http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78835.htm) |
| Apr 13 - 13, 2006 |
A group of 20 skinhead youths, armed with metal bars and spades, attacked the a group of Romanis, and beat them until all the victims lost consciousness near the town of Volzhskiy in the Volgograd region of Russia. A Romani activist woman and Romani man were killed; six others were injured. (European Roma Rights Centre. 2006. "Racist Attacks on Roma in Russia Cause Death and Severe Injury." Roma Rights Quarterly. 2-3. http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2694.) |
| Apr 29 - Jun 2, 2006 |
Local authorities, police and the Drug Control Service demolish houses belonging to Roma in Dorozhnyy, following a court ruling that such action was allowable. The residents of the camp are to be relocated to more remote areas of the Kalinigrad region, a project for which the government allocated approximately $185,000. More than 200 Roma, including more than 100 children, are eventually evicted when 37 homes are destroyed. (BBC Worldwide Monitoring. 4/29/2006. "Russia: Gypsy village destroyed amid drug trafficking allegations"; European Roma Rights Centre. 7/5/2006. "Rights Organizations Condemn Roma Evictions in Russia, Call for Protection of Hundreds of Roma Rendered Homeless in Kaliningrad Region." http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2607) |
| May 29 - Jun 2, 2006 |
After bulldozing 37 houses belonging to Roma families, Russian authorities set fire to the ruins in the village of Dorozhniy, in Russia’s Kaliningrad region. (European Roma Rights Centre. 2006. "Hundreds of Roma Rendered Homeless in Russia’s Kaliningrad Region." Roma Rights Quarterly. 2-3. http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2693) |
| Aug 26 - 27, 2006 |
Police and Special Purpose Police Units carried out two successive raids on the Romani community in Sverdlovsk region. (European Roma Rights Centre. 5/2005. In Search of Happy Gypsies: Persecution of Pariah Minorities in Russia. Country Report Series, No. 14. http://www.errc.org/db/01/4A/m0000014A.pdf) |
| Dec 2006 |
An eight-year-old Roma girl died in an arson attack on her home near Novosibirsk. (Tom Parfitt. "Gypsies shot dead as race attacks continue." The Irish Times) |
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