Press Release, August 21, 2013

Human rights activists have appealed to the Russian intelligentsia calling that latter to intervene with all available means and pacify the anti-migrant hysteria associated with the Moscow mayoral elections. Lydia Grafova, journalist and one of the authors of the appeal, in her interview at the Echo Moskvi radio station noted that there was only one candidate for the Mayor of Moscow – Sergei Mitrokhin – who did not say that migrants represented a big danger or a curse. Human rights activists and YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin say that illegal migration has been rooted in the impunity of corrupt officials.

“We know that illegal immigration represents a Klondike for all types of corruption and will these greedy corrupted officials seriously fight against what is profitable for them? But they are always ready to throw dust in the eyes of the people,” note human rights activists in their letter. This echoes the key point of Sergei Mitrokhin’s electoral programme section dedicated to illegal immigration. Mitrokhin promises to begin punishing employers in accordance with Article 322.1 of the Criminal Code “Illegal Immigration” and Article 127.2 “Use of Slave Labour”. “These actions will lead to creating a precedent of punishing those aspiring to economise through the use of forced labor, and employers will be forced to raise wages for Muscovites,” runs Sergei Mitrokhin’s programme.

The appeal to intelligentsia was signed by Ludmila Alexeyeva, The Moscow Helsinki Group, Svetlana Gannushkina, The Civic Assistance, Lydia Grafova, Forum of Migrants’ Organizations, Sergey Kovalyov, the Sakharov Centre, and Arseny Roginsky, the International Society “Memorial”.