Cossack Ataman of Stavropol Territory will not be brought to criminal liability

Mikhail Serkov, Ataman of the Stavropol Cossack District of the Tersk Cossack Army, will not be brought to criminal responsibility for his anti-Estonian utterances. The press service of the "AGORA" Inter-Regional Human Rights Association has issued a statement, running that Pavel Chikov, Chairman of the Association, learnt about it from the official answer of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Stavropol Territory.

In his talk with the investigator Ataman Serkov tried to explain that had written his message under the public resonance, meaning not "acts of violence" but "explanatory work" and referred to the statements of Russian Vice-Premier Sergey Ivanov. Serkov also said that he had not sent signatures under his message to any mass media, and in general, Stavropol Cossacks had found no Estonians in the Territory.

"I'm sure that the Ataman will be henceforth more careful with his utterances," Pavel Chikov, Chairman of the "AGORA" Association, says. "Recently, Stavropol Territory has been notable for its interethnic conflicts, and careless statements of the people who are at state service can provoke serious collisions."