Format 18 leader Maxim Martsinkevich, a.k.a. "The Hatchet"
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Russian Nazi Arrested for Debate Incident
As the State Duma was preparing to pass amendments to step up efforts to fight extremism in Russia, the arrest of one of the best-known nationalist leaders in Moscow was announced. Maxim Martsinkevich, otherwise known as Tesak ("The Hatchet"), head of the organization Format 18, is accused of inciting ethnic strife on the basis of an incident that took place at a political debate that took place at the popular café Bilingua on February 28. Martsinkevich is a fifth-year student at Moscow State Construction University.
Martsinkevich was arrested without resistance by the Interior Ministry's elite Rys troops in front of a sports facility on the outskirts of Moscow where members of his work out. He was charged under article 282, part 2, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Incitement to Ethnic Strife with the Threat of the Use of Violence,” punishable by 3-5 years' imprisonment) in the office of the prosecutor of the central district of Moscow.
Martsinkevich and about 20 others burst into a debate at Bilingua between journalists Maxim Kononenko and Yulia Latynina on the democratic movement in Russia. Latynina recounted that “It looked completely comical. Twenty brutes in camouflage came in at the height of the discussion, gave the Nazi salute and began to yell, We'll cut up liberals.' There were plenty of liberals around, but they didn't cut anyone. Instead they left again like cowards.” Yabloko youth movement leader Ilya Yashin added, “Tesak screamed that he plans to kill more Tajiks, blacks and liberals, then he and his companions stated chanting Nazi slogans.” The incident was caught on video and expert examination revealed grounds to press charges against Martsinkevich.
Martsinkevich is well-known among local neo-Nazis. Format 18 began several years ago as a video studio that produced enactments of beatings and killings by skinheads that were frequently posted on the Internet. The actors later turned to real murder. On June 19 of this year, three men were convicted in the killing of Alexander Ryukhin, a member of the antifascist movement. Among those convicted was Martsinkevich's close associate Alexander Shitov.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 05, 2007
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