A reporter for Helsingin Sanomat, the most important Finnish newspaper, visited Mari-El in October 2005 and tried interviewing local Mari-El activists. The interviews of the most prominent activists weren’t exactly successful due to the active harrassment from President Leonid Markelov’s goons.
The article describes how three of the interviews the reporter was able to secure were interrupted Gestapo style by the local (Russian) officials. From fabricated criminal charges to eviction procedures that just had to be scheduled at the same time with the interview.
If you want to oppress your people, couldn’t you find something slightly less transparent than harrassing them when a foreign reporter is visiting? I mean, you can’t possibly harrass the foreign reporter when he’s back in his home country to stop him from writing about it.
How about paying neo nazis to beat the living daylights out of whoever you want beaten? Oh, wait, Markelov’s been there and done that, too.
The Russians clamoring for old the Soviet era must truly be happy these days. At least the authoritarian dictatorship is well established again.
-TPP
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