Associated Press - 10.22.2006

Leading Moscow gallery, painter attacked

By Maria Danilova

MOSCOW (AP) - A group of young men stormed into a leading Moscow art gallery, destroying an exhibition of paintings by an ethnic Georgian artist and injuring its owner, the gallery owner said Sunday.

The attack took place amid a government crackdown on Georgians living in Russia following a spy dispute with Tbilisi. It was the latest in a series of attacks against dark-skinned foreigners and immigrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus, highlighting concerns about growing xenophobia in Russia.

Marat Guelman, a leading arts expert and a political consultant, said about 10 men he described as "militarized characters, fighters," burst into his gallery in central Moscow on Saturday.

"They stormed into the gallery, made the girls stand against the wall, began smashing everything down, then burst into my office and started beating me up and then they left," Guelman, 45, told The Associated Press, adding that he had to undergo surgery for face injuries.

"My face was smashed into meat," he said.

Guelman is listed as an "enemy of Russia" on several nationalist Web sites for his Jewish last name, the promotion of nontraditional art and his campaigning against neo-Fascists.

Prosecutors opened a criminal investigation, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported. Moscow prosecutors were unavailable for comment on Sunday.

NTV television showed footage of art works scattered on the floor of Guelman's gallery, with some of the smaller paintings torn out of their wooden frames and ripped up.

The gallery owner said he suspected the attackers were members of a radical nationalist group and that they disliked him exhibiting the paintings of the ethnic Georgian artist Alexander Dzhikia.

"They chose the modern art and me as their enemy, and they settled scores with me," Guelman said.

On Friday, Russian customs authorities confiscated caricatures of Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Bush and Osama bin Laden, which had been displayed in Guelman's gallery and were to be taken to Britain for an exhibit. One of the photo collages showed the three men lying together on a couch and wearing only boxer shorts and socks.

Guelman said officials confiscated the photos on suspicion of "defamation of third persons" and he said prosecutors were considering opening a criminal investigation on the grounds of insulting the president. Guelman, however, denied a link between the attack and the seizure of the photos.

Guelman founded one of Moscow's first and best known private galleries in the early 1990's, but he has also worked as a political consultant with close ties to the Kremlin. Recently, however, he has devoted most of his time to art and last year organized an exhibit called "Russia 2," which focused on cultural and social trends. The seized photographs were part of the exhibit.

The attack came amid a wave of anti-Georgian sentiment that engulfed Russia after authorities imposed painful economic sanctions on its small southern neighbor following the brief arrest of four Russian military officers accused of spying. Authorities also deported hundreds of Georgians deemed illegal migrants and cracked down on Georgian-run businesses.

Human rights groups say authorities are turning a blind eye to the growing wave of xenophobia and racially motivated attacks in Russia. This year, 39 people have been killed in apparent hate crimes and a further 308 attacked, according to the Sova rights center which monitors xenophobia.

Right-wing nationalists are promising to repeat last year's Nov. 4 rally, in which several thousand people celebrated a new national unity holiday by marching under extremist banners and some giving the Nazi salute and shouting "Heil Hitler." Rights groups have urged authorities not to allow the event.