Mari Union fined for sharing Uralic Centre post

The Yoshkar-Ola Municipal Court fined the oldest national organisation of the Mari people, Mariy Ushem (Mari Union), 50,000 roubles (500 EUR), because on 12 June, the organisation posted on its social networking page VKontakte a post from an organisation based in Estonia, the Indigenous Peoples Development Centre Uralic Keskus NGO. However, on 30 August 2023, the Centre was included in the list of organisations not recommended by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation under number 108.

Mari Union’s representative argued in court that he was not aware of the Uralic Centre NGO’s inclusion on the list, and that it was only now that he became aware of the ban on publishing information about the listed organisation. He also pointed out that the relevant post had been removed, expressed his conviction that the information had caused no harm to anyone and asked for the infringement to be declared null and void. The representative of the Ministry of Justice, however, asked for the organisation to be held accountable.

As the representative of Mari Ušem admitted his guilt, repented and voluntarily removed the post, the court decided to impose a minimum fine of 50,000 roubles (500 EUR) on the organisation.

Mariy Ušem (Марий Ушем) was founded in 1990 and is the only independent organisation representing the interests of the Mari people. The authorities continue to seek its liquidation. Every year, it is inspected several times, looking for signs of anti-state activities.

Mari El Republic is also home to the (almost) namesake of the organisation, Mari Ušem (Мари Ушем), which was created by the authorities in 2020.This organisation is primarily engaged in delivering humanitarian aid to Mari volunteers fighting on the Russian side in Ukraine.