A/HRC/4/19/Add.3 page 15 racist cases are reported; and acts of intimidation of jury members or the victims themselves who, fearing reprisals, prefer to remain silent and not use the legal mechanisms at their disposal. The combination of these factors results in an atmosphere of impunity for the perpetrators of such acts and a sense of profound frustration, isolation and fear among the victims and the civil society organizations dealing with these phenomena. 38. Civil society raised concern about what is considered as a too broad and unclear definition of the term “extremist activities” in the Federal Act on Counteracting Extremist Activities, pointing out that the concept and formulations of the law allowed its arbitrary and selective implementation. 39. Most civil society organizations condemned the discriminatory practices linked to granting citizenship and the registration system, leading in many cases to the denial of the exercise of basic rights, such access to social insurance, medical aid, housing, education or employment. This situation, already declared unconstitutional by Russian courts, is dramatically affecting a large number of citizens of the former Soviet Union. 40. The NGO community noted an aggravation of this situation with the adoption of the 2002 federal laws on Russian Citizenship - requiring to prove the existence of a residence registration or residence permit - and on the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation - primarily designed to control immigration. This law actually contains no transitional provisions enforceable in practice, and makes no distinction between former citizens of the Soviet Union having permanently lived in Russia and foreigners coming to Russia at present. Thus, hundreds of thousands of residents of the Russian Federation, in particular large segments of such ethnic communities as Roma, Meskhetian Turks, Yezidi and other ethnic groups in Krasnodar Krai, are facing a situation of permanent irregularity and denial of basic rights. B. Ultranationalist racist attacks 41. Utmost concern was expressed at the number and degree of acts of physical violence committed by ultranationalist, racist and fascist groups, including skinheads. Their number is estimated at several thousands, ranging from 10,000 to 20,000, according to figures provided by several State officials, to an estimated 50,000, in the view of some human rights organizations.11 According to NGO figures, in 2004 there were 258 victims of racist and neo-Nazi attacks, including 46 deaths (14 in Moscow, 9 in St. Petersburg); in 2005, there were 437 victims of such attacks, including 36 deaths (10 in Moscow, 4 in St. Petersburg); from January to September 2006, the number of victims amounted to 322, including 36 deaths (26 in Moscow, 5 in St. Petersburg).12 The victims of those attacks would mainly be dark-skinned people, people from Africa, the Caucasus and Central Asia, from the Middle East and 11 Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, “Racism, xenophobia, ethnic discrimination and anti-Semitism in Russia (January-June 2005)” at http://antirasizm.ru 12 Statistics from the SOVA center at http://xeno.sova-center.ru