12/10/2006- She is a leading Russian rights activist, but also a leading target. Svetlana Gannushkina, a devoted advocate of tolerance, tops a list of 89 people a nationalist group has sentenced to death, calling upon "patriots" to take up arms and execute her and other friends of "alien" peoples."Since there is nothing I can do in this situation, I try not think about it," said Gannushkina, 64, a soft-spoken advocate for refugees. The killing of investigative reporter and group, underscored the dangers faced by journalists and rights activists criticizing government policies."I am horrified by what happened with Anya," Gannushkina said, using Politkovskaya's nickname. "Of course, I understand that considering what happened, we are all under the same threat." Gannushkina said she first learned of the ominous list published by a radical nationalist group called the Russian Will in August, where she was named "advocate of alien migrants." Other alleged enemies of the Russian people included journalist and commentator Yevgenia Albats and veteran rights activist Sergei Kovalyov. "It is time for physical reprisal. Mr. Mauser [a type of pistol], your turn has come," the site read, Gannushkina said. The web site Russianwill.org could not be accessed Wednesday. Gannushkina said it was shut down only this week. Information on the targeted activists and journalists, including their phone numbers and addresses, has spread to numerous other nationalist sites and blogs, however, and Gannushkina has received phone threats. Gannushkina said she had asked prosecutors to investigate the group's activities in August, but that prosecutors so far have failed to open an investigation. A spokesman for the Moscow Prosecutor's Office declined to comment on the matter. Gannushkina isn't alone. Last year, Oksana Chelysheva, an activist and journalist with the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, which advocates for Chechen rights, discovered leaflets stuffed in mailboxes in her apartment building in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, proclaiming her "a whore for the Chechens," giving out her full name and address and accusing her of supporting terrorists. Chelysheva has continued working despite the threats, but her boss, Stanislav Dmitriyevsky, has been ordered to stop because of a criminal record. In February he was convicted of inciting ethnic hatred and handed a two-year suspended sentence, a verdict he condemned as part of a state assault on nongovernmental organizations. This week, prosecutors asked a court to close the group down.
© Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/pages/aponline/world/