I’ve received a huge number of letters from people wanting to organize a harassment campaign against the people featured in the infamous video from a Samara hotel. Because of that: I’m going to ban people who are openly trying to organize in the comments to “catch the bastards and beat the hell out of them” — no hard feelings. Nothing good will come of it. The moral right to “find them and beat them up” probably belongs to that woman’s relatives, but to no one else. It’s the worst possible option. Please note that Zhirinovsky has already filed a request with the Prosecutor General’s Office. For those who still want to contribute, I’m reposting one of the letters I received on the subject. You can copy and paste it instead of typing it out by hand and reworking Zhirik’s (Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s) request. Hi, Regarding the guys from Smotra.ru, you’ve probably seen the video. There’s a proposal to create a group statement and send it to the following addresses: http://www.samproc.ru/Internet_priemnaj/* (Samara Region Prosecutor’s Office) http://www.genproc.gov.ru/ipriem/address/ (Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation) http://letters.kremlin.ru/send (Presidential Administration)* Text: *On 02.09.2010, I discovered two video recordings made by the security cameras of the Moya Hotel, located at Samara, Moskovskoye Highway, 23 km, posted online at the following addresses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY7teNsPj7A (“video response Auto Rally smotra.ru lawlessness.flv”) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEdzOuMOvac (“Auto Rally smotra.ru lawlessness”) These video materials clearly illustrate actions containing signs of crimes punishable under Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Hooliganism), Article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Insult), Article 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Threat of murder or grievous bodily harm), Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (Failure to obey a lawful order of a police officer...), and Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (Petty hooliganism). These unlawful actions were directed against the administrator of the Moya Hotel, located at Samara, Moskovskoye Highway, 23 km, as well as against public order. The police unit called by the hotel administrator did not detain the offenders. The persons who committed these unlawful acts are not hiding their identities — open sources (the websites http://smotra.ru, http://vkontakte.ru) indicate that they are: Erik Davidovich Kituashvili, born 08.07.1981, registered at address ........ phone .......... Roman Vasilyevich Chumakov, born 08.04.1984, registered at address ........ phone .........., previously convicted multiple times under Articles 161 part 2 and 166 part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation* *In view of the above, I request that you: verify the information provided and take measures to punish the individuals who committed these unlawful acts review the propriety of the actions of the police officers who responded to the hotel administrator’s call. inform me of the results of the review within the period established by law. *I removed the addresses and phone numbers from public access, but anyone with half a brain can find them in 1.5 seconds. The following method of public pressure, sent to me by one of my readers, seems fairly reasonable and appropriate: Alexei, good afternoon. Regarding the behavior of the representatives of Smotra.ru, I suggest testing the strength of the relationship between the site and its main sponsors, in particular Liqui Moly. Are they prepared to continue sponsoring a project whose representatives allow themselves to behave like this? Are they prepared for the internet community’s attitude toward this portal to spill over onto the sponsor’s brand as well? Letters can be sent to their marketing director, Eldar Vakhidov. *Here’s the address: eldar@liquimoly.ru. *To be honest, I don’t really understand what Smotra.ru is, but it would probably be wrong to crush the whole Smotra project because of two of its members. Most likely, the right thing would be for Liqui Moly and the other sponsors to make any further cooperation conditional on an apology from these guys. That’s what should be emphasized in the letter. I wanted to post the video responses and explanations from Smotra itself (I saw links to them in the comments), but their site is completely down. My personal opinion regarding street racing on the streets of Moscow. (I realize it slightly contradicts point 1 of this post.) As for those who do this in the city on a busy road:
This is how they should be dealt with:
