Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Window on Eurasia: Russian Officials Move to Expel Siberian Rabbi


Paul Goble

 

            Staunton, September 2 – The Federal Migration Service has stripped Osher Krichevsky, Omsk’s chief rabbi, of his residence permit nominally on the basis of a charge of illegal trading of alcohol but in fact, experts say, because of the political situation in the Russian Federation, “Kommersant-Siberia” is reporting today.

 

            Yesterday, the FMS told the rabbi, who has Israeli citizenship, that he has 15 days to leave Russia together with his wife and six children. Krichevsky told the newspaper that the officials had refused to tell him the reason or to meet with him or his representatives to discuss the case (kommersant.ru/doc/2557887).

 

            Krichevsky, 36, has served as the chief rabbi of Omsk and Omsk oblast since September 2001, and in 2007, he received his residence permit. He has been quite active, including in establishing a kosher store at the synagogue there, and officials earlier fined him 2,000 rubles (50 US dollars) for selling alcohol without a license.

 

             Leaders of the Jewish community in Omsk believe that the action against their rabbi was initiated not by the FMS but by the FSB, the Russian security services, and they say that they plan to appeal to Vladimir Putin and “the competent organs in order that justice may be restored.”

 

            The leaders of the community also insist that Krichevsky is “an absolutely apolitical individual,” but other observers there, “Kommersant-Siberia” reports, say that he may have made some “anti-government comments” in private conversations and that the authorities have moved against him to send a warning to other religious leaders.

 

            Under Russian law, the rabbi has ten days to appeal the decision, but his position is weakened by the fact that he cannot appeal until the FMS tells him why he is being expelled, something the FMS is currently unwilling to do, according to legal experts with whom Olga Danilova of the newspaper spoke.

 

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