15:58, 4 October 2007

Human Rights Watch reports on persecutions of Georgian natives in the Russian Federation

The Human Rights Watch international organization has published a report on the anti-Georgian campaign in Russia, analyzing the facts of persecutions against natives of Georgia last autumn at the background of aggravated Georgian-Russian relations.

The 78-page report "Anti-Georgian Campaign: Targeted Detention and Deportation of Georgians by Russian Authorities" has documented voluntary and illegal arrests and expulsions of Georgian natives, many of whom lived and worked in Russia on lawful grounds.

According to Human Rights Watch, "a significant number of Russian broadcasting media, which belong or are controlled by the state in their majority, contributed to escalation of anti-Georgian moods and depicted natives of Georgia in the negative light."

In the opinion of the human rights organization, the actions of the authorities against Georgian natives had coincided with changes in the migratory policy, including enforcement of restrictions on employment of migrants in retail trade. The authorities held police raids to detect the persons who lived and worked without due permits.