A/HRC/4/19/Add.3 page 22 63. Anti-Semitism experts noted that, while few physical attacks driven by explicitly racist motives against the Jewish community are registered in Russia today,22 a more serious source of concern is the anti-Semitic hate speech used by a number of extremist movements and the fact that anti-Semitic rhetoric has gained ground in the media, including mainstream press and, most worryingly, in the political discourse. 64. One of the most disturbing of such cases was the “Letter of the 500”, an appeal sent to the Prosecutor-General on 23 January 2005, urging him to review the activity of all Jewish religious and cultural organizations on the grounds of “extremism”. Among the signatories, there were 19 members of the State Duma (14 from Rodina and 5 from the Communist Party). Despite immediate condemnation by President Putin and the Orthodox Church, later followed by condemnation by the State Duma, on 21 March 2005 the letter was resubmitted to the General Prosecutor with 5,000 signatures, including those of several well-known personalities. In spite of national and international condemnation, no charge was brought against any of the signatories of the letter under the criminal law provisions prohibiting racial hate speech. Failure to act in this case is viewed by the NGO community as a dangerous precedent conferring a certain “democratic” legitimation to anti-Semitic speech. Attacks on human rights defenders 65. Organizations and individuals engaged in the combat against racism, discrimination and xenophobia have also become a target of racist violence, including threats, physical assaults or murder by ultranationalist groups. In such context, human rights defenders expressed their utmost concern at a general absence of official reaction, effective investigation and failure to provide protection. 66. The Special Rapporteur heard several testimonies of human rights defenders that had been directly targeted through physical assaults, death threats - also to family members - and vandalization of workplaces, including theft of computers containing staff contact details. Increasingly, ultranationalist groups would be disseminating threats through the Internet, a recent example being the call for elimination of a list of 89 persons, including very well-known human rights defenders and anti-racism activists, by an extremist group called “The Russian Will”. The people on the list were considered “Traitors to the Nation” or “Friends of Foreigners”. 67. The Special Rapporteur’s attention was in particular brought to the assassination in June 2004 of Nicolai Guirenko, professor of ethnology and prominent expert on ethnic and racial issues in the country. The NGO community expressed its conviction that Guirenko’s murder was linked to his work as a researcher and expert witness in high-profile investigations and court cases on racially motivated attacks. This murder thus raises the issue of the safety of experts, 22 Over the first nine months of 2006, SOVA documented four cases of physical attacks against the Jewish community, the worst cases being the attack on a synagogue in Moscow by Alexander Kopsev. See: “Anti-Semitism in Russia: January-September 2006” by Galina Koyhevnikova and Alexander Verkhovsky at http://xeno.sova-center.ru