JEWISH SCHOOL TEACHER FROM EKATERINBURG FOUND GUILTY OF INCITING HATRED
SOVA Center for News and Analysis, 24 February 2016
Semen Tykman was exempted from punishment, but he intends to challenge the verdict.
On 24 February 2016, the Kirov district court of Ekaterinburg found a former teacher of the Jewish day school Ohr Avner, Semen Tykman, guilty under part 1 of article 282 of the Criminal Code for inciting hatred. Tykman was sentenced to a fine of 200,000 rubles and he was exempted from punishment because of the statute of limitations.
We recall that the grounds for opening the case were statements by parents of two pupils of the school to the prosecutor's office regarding extremist statements that Tykman made in classes devoted to Jewish tradition. According to the girls' accounts, in the winter of 2013 Tykman urged that they spit in the direction of Orthodox churches when they were passing by, as he himself does, and he also maintained that all Germans should be destroyed for what they did to Jews during the Second World War.
During the judicial proceedings, witnesses for the prosecution were extremely inconsistent and substantive discrepancies were found in the position of the prosecution. As a result, the only testimony against Tykman that remained was transcripts of questioning of two minor girls, whose reliability is doubtful since these two texts were practically identical.
We note also that during examination of religious and educational literature that was confiscated in the school, no indicators of extremism were found.
Tykman did not acknowledge his guilt and declared his readiness to appeal the sentence all the way to the European Court for Human Rights. (tr. by PDS, posted 24 February 2016)
TEACHER OF JEWISH TRADITIONS TO CHALLENGE COURT VERDICT IN EXTREMISM CASE
The Kirov district court of Ekaterinburg announced the verdict on a former teacher of the Jewish day school Ohr Avner, Semen Tykman, who was accused of extremism on the basis of the word of two pupils of the 6th and 7th grades. Judge Larisa Shangina declared that he was found guilty on the basis of part 1 of article 282 of the Criminal Code of the RF (Incitement of hatred or strife) and sentenced to a fine of 200,000 rubles. But because of the lapse of the statute of limitations, the judge exempted Tykman from the punishment.
"I consider the decision of the court as not the most successful form of a verdict of acquittal. While Semen Tykman was practically exempted from punishment, the degree of legal nihilism of the judicial act was way out of bounds," Tykman's lawyer, Anatoly Kleimenov, told Znak.com, emphasizing that he intends to appeal the sentence in an appellate instance. Tykman himself throughout the judicial proceedings, which lasted the past nine months, did not acknowledge his guilt.
"Everything that happens, happens by the will of God. That means even this decision of the court has brought me some benefit," Tykman himself told Znak.com, emphasizing that he considers the verdict of the court "bad" for him. He said that he will try for a verdict of acquittal. "If it is required, we will go to the European Court for Human Rights," he reported, adding that during the trial "the defense beat to pieces all the arguments of the prosecution."
Declarations to the prosecutor's office regarding extremist statements that Tykman allegedly made in classes on Jewish traditions in the day school Ohr Avner were written by parents of the pupils Haimushina and Fodlash. The girls described for their parents how in classes on Jewish traditions Tykman, roughly in the winter of 2013, made extremist statement, specifically urging that they spit in the direction of Orthodox churches while passing by, as he does himself, and also he maintained that all Germans should be destroyed for what they did to Jews during the Second World War.
During the judicial proceedings, inconsistencies were found in the position of the prosecution. In particular, not one witness of Tykman's extremist statements was found other than two minor girls. The girls themselves were not questioned in court, but transcripts of their questioning were very much similar to each other. Witnesses for the defense and attorneys frequently called attention to the fact that many turns of phrase in the testimonies of the two girls were absolutely identical. (tr. by PDS, posted 24 February 2016)
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