A few figures for the beginning. Now in Strasbourg European human rights court there are 42 claims of members of the National-Bolshevik Party against Russia, against the repressive and unfair decisions, taken by Russian courts.
Now 26 members of the National-Bolshevik Party are in prisons. Altogether 110 members of the NBP have passed through prisons since 1999. I draw your attention to the fact, that arrests and repressive court decisions started in 1999.
Only from the end of January 2005 till the end of January 2006 six considerable mass attacks against the NBP members took place (each time there were more than 30 attackers) and more than sixty not mass attacks. A typical mass attack: on August 29, 2005, when hired bandits in masks and gloves, armed with bats pounced on nazbols near the CPRF premises in Avtozavodskaya street. Then militsia detained them. A typical not mass attack: nazbol Bagazeyev from Volgograd was waited for near his huose and beaten with metallic rods on his head.
The Moscow dwpartment of the NBP was registered in September 1993, first regional departments appeared in 1994. In 1998 the party held its first All-Russian congress and passed thу documents for registration as an All-Russian political party to the Ministry of Justice right away. But they refused to register the party. In all the National-Bolshevik Party has brought documents for registration to the Ministry of Justice five times. Each time they refused to register the party under faked pretences, in spite of the fact, that in December 2005 the NBP fulfilled all the absurd requitements of the Federal registration service, even increasing in the number to 55 000 people.
But for the Kremlin it wasn’t enough to refuse to register the party. From summer 2003 till October 2005 a process of liquidation of the registration of the Interregional public organization NBP, finished by the shameful decision of the Supreme Court presidium (eleven judges of the Supreme Court, headed by chairman Lebedev) to approve the liquidation.
Among the other claims of the NBP to the European human rights court there’s the one concerning the illegal liquidation of the Interregional organization and the refusal to register the party.
After the figures let’s pass to facts. Why such repressions take place? Two mass actions of August 2nd 2004 and December 14 2004, peaceful penetration of activists of the NBP to the Ministry of Health and president’s administration reception hall were stimated by the court: the first one as delinquency, the second one as mass disorders. Meanwhile all the participants of these actions affirmed, that the actions had political aims: penetration to the Ministry of Health was a protest against the benefits monetization law, by penetration to the president’s reception hall they demanded president to resign. The slogans and leaflets, distributed at the actions, testified to that. But under the Kremlin’s pressure the courts estimated these actions (as for methods, absolutely identical to those of the international organization Greenpeace, for eaxample) as crimes. The court decisions, concerning the “Health ministry case” and “the case 39″ were deliberately punitive, severly repressive. The other actions, held by the NBP (since autumn 2003 till summer 2004, as political scientists have counted, the NBP held 870 actions all over the country) were also nonviolent ones.
The NBP is subject to repressions for constitutional political activities - here’s the answer to the question “Why?”. That is why a pretext was created. About at the same time, when the two famous actions took place, there suddenly appeared, first in yellow mass media, and later from lips of official persons and mobilized pro-Kremlin “public”, a thesis about “fascism” of the NBP. Simultaneously in September 2004 Vladislav Surkov - obviously a power broker of the regime - threw out a thesis about “lemons and apples, growing on the same branch”. It’s fear, the wind from the Ukrainian maidan brought this thesis into his ears: fear of the union of liberals and nationalists, like in Kiev.
The thesis about certain facsism in Russia in the 21st century is leading to nowhere, but such a false pretext is useful as a justification of repressions against the NBP. Anyway it will be difficult to understand what nazbols were talking about in 1994 or 1995 in their premises. And the Kremlin started lying. As if “Stalin, Beria, GULAG” is from the NBP program (It’s lie, it’s a slogan, thre were hundreds of them, born during marches by the crowd and died as well. We didn’t create it, it was born by the people in response to the sadistic, let’s agree, reforms of Gaidar, and it sounded: “We’ll finish the reforms this way: Stalin, Beria, GULAG!”). And as if the slogan “Russia for the Russians!” is ours. It’s blatant lie. Never, never and never this slogan was used by the NBP. It’s disgusting to list all the lies spilt over the NBP. And I don’t have to justify miself.
Only one thing was “Limonka” newspaper as a free forum of radical youth. We had no professional journalists, all the Russia was writing in it. We believed, that in the party of the new type, in a free party there must be a free circulation of ideas. That is why we were not burdened with taboos, peculiar to the concsiousness of the old intelligentsia, and were speaking about everything openly.
Since February 2006 (I wrote about in “Grani”) heavy artillery of the regime started beating me: deputies, senators, ministers, governors. Even the term “glamourous fascist” was created. They already new, that Kasparov was preparing the union: “The Other Russia” conference. And they new, that in RF there’s only one political organization, that may become the vanguard of the movement for revolutionary changes: the NBP. Other opposition groups have smart leaders, bright personalities, some have even money, but only the NBP has the staff.
That is why the “NBP fascism”, “Limonov fascism” appeared as a topic. I had warned the easily excited, I wrote: ladies and gentlemen, you are being cheated by fascism. (By the way, pay attention to the fact, that “fascism” in soviety has suddenly fell down, most likely under the command from above…)
But it’s too late now. The opposition coalition took place on 11-12 of July. “The Other Russia” will face with many troubles, but such an argument as “don’t unite into the coalition, because there’s fascist Limonov” is already useless. It didn’t work. It would be a sing of moronity to persist in this “argument”. (By the way, the only ultra-right, more or less apt to be called a “fascist”, not in everything though, in the NBP was Aleksandr Dugin, who left the NBP in 1998. He was the first preacher of ultra-right ideas in Russia after perestroika, he came to us from “Pamyat” (”Memory”). He remained true to ultra-right ideas, in spite of friendship with Putin’s friend from the FSB Cherkesov. “Eurasian Union of Youth” and the retrograde science geopolitics, originating from Hitler’s friend Karl Haushoffer, as well as organization of the right march on the 4th of November 2005 - is his contribution to Russian reality. But take notice of the fact, that marvelously his publisher of “Hyperborea” and “Elements” isn’t called a fascist. Why. There’s no a command.)
The national-Bolshevik Party is subjected to attacks both from “unknown people” and special operations of the “T centre”, criminal investigation department, FSB, when they rush into apartments of nazbols, beat them near their houses, during illegal detentions. The fact, that the “T-centre”( created for fight against terrorism), criminal investigation department and the federal security service are acting against a political party, is an impudent violation of the constitution of the Russian Federation and all the international norms.
I hope to be rendered help from all sides to stop repressions against my party. I rely on the Russian society, the Strasbourg court. The repressions policy against national-bolsheviks will be condemned. Finally the NBP will be in the voting papers, the Russian citizens will hold. We have the right to have the people’s attention. We have deserved the people’s attention as nobody else.
We are a repressed party. Today in prisons and camps there’s only one more numerous, than nazbols group: these are Chechen soldiers. I’m not sure about the present situation, but when my case was investigated in 2001, the same department of the Chief Investigation Department of the FSB - the 3rd one, was working with both nazbols and Chechens. Taking into consideration the fact, that nazbols use nonviolent methods and are a political organization, and Chechens are carrying out an armed fight against federal army forces, we may affirm, that the Kremlin has trampled on all the laws towards us, the NBP. Sooner or later, in the near future, EVERYBODY will have to aknowledge us. Without any reservations. The Strasbourg court won’t be enough. Since 1998 for 8 years we have been deprived of political rights. We have wrested our rights. And those, who have deprived us of them, will be condemned.
Eduard Limonov, Grani.Ru
Tags: Bagazeyev, Beria, Cherkesov, court, fascism, FSB, Gaidar, GULAG, Haushoffer, Hitler, Kiev, Kremlin, liberal, Limonka, Memory, National-Bolshevik Party, nazbol, NBP, Other Russia, Stalin, Strasbourg, Surkov, Volgograd