A human rights activist explains how discrimination and bigotry shape life in one of Russia’s most vulnerable communities In October 2024, a taxi driver named Elena Manzhosova was found murdered outside Chelyabinsk in the city of Korkino. When locals learned of the crime, they marched to the suspected killer’s home, began breaking windows, and set fire to several nearby houses. The riot quickly escalated into an indiscriminate attack on the murder suspect’s entire community: the Roma population living on Korkino’s outskirts. In the aftermath of Manzhosova’s tragic killing, city residents have demanded the illegal deportation of Roma community members, and state officials have partly obliged these bigotries by intensifying police raids on Roma settlements in the Chelyabinsk region and beyond. To learn about the origins of negative stereotypes against Russia’s Romanis, why members of this community often live in isolation, and why Russians often view them as illegal immigrants, Cherta Media recently spoke to Stefania Kulayeva, an expert at Memorial’s Anti-Discrimination Center, who has spent more than 30 years advocating for the rights of the Roma population in Russia. Meduza summarizes Kulayeva’s comments. “At first, we gathered information about violations of Roma rights directly from the affected individuals,” Kulayeva told Cherta Media, explaining how she once worked on a research project that brought her to more than 100 clustered Roma settlements. “I’d just walk up to people and say, ‘Hello, tell me what’s wrong here,’” she recalled. Through these interactions, Kulayeva learned firsthand accounts of failing education programs, police abuse, murder, and torture. Later, she got involved in legal assistance to Roma communities, litigating to prevent the demolition of homes, helping people register their properties, and sometimes even arranging defense attorneys for Roma members falsely accused of crimes.
via meduza: Blame it on the Roma