Members of the regional branch of the Kremlin-backed liberal democratic party Right Cause congregated at the entrance to the city Kremlin wearing funeral insignia and armed with candy, which they distributed to passers-by in order to commemorate the now-deceased period of democracy.

Branch leader Denis Labuza released a bundle of balloons emblazoned with “democracy” into the sky, saying that if election of the mayor by popular vote was cut out of the city charter, it would be a sign that city officials do take into consideration the voice of the people.

The “funeral” was prompted by a session of the city duma that same day that introduced a change to the city charter, earlier proposed by the major. Instead of election by popular vote, the mayor will be now be chosen by a selection of deputies, and the leader of the city administration will be hired by contract.

During a meeting with opposition leaders to discuss a set of fraudulent regional elections in October, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev asked that participants not turn the meeting into a “funeral” for democracy. “I intentionally dressed darkly today,” the president said, “thinking that, who knows, you all might be in the mood for a funeral.”

Bunicheva was arrested with two other activists on January 28th as they tried to join a demonstration in support of government measures to boost the domestic auto industry, sponsored by the United Russia party.  Police confiscated a banner reading “Enough of Putin,” from the protestors, who then allegedly refused to show their documents and cursed at the militsiya officers.  The Kavasinsky district court then sentenced all three to five days arrest.

Vladimir Ushakov, the school principal, was incensed that Bunicheva missed school during her arrest.  Ushakov, a member of United Russia, told Kommersant “not to look for any political underpinning in the matter.”  He said he was obligated to remove Bunicheva from the classroom, and as result reduce Bunicheva’s pay to 5-6 thousand rubles (around $150 or €120) per month.  The teacher spends part of her time on additional administrative duties.

Bunicheva herself described a different version of events.  When she returned to work, she says the principal suggested that she write a letter of voluntary termination of service.

“In case I refused,” Bunicheva said, “the school’s administration would supposedly make use of articles in the labor code on the ‘non-conformity to the status of an educator.’  This would strip me of the opportunity to teach at all.”  Labor attorney Anna Gvozdichkina clarified for Kommersant that no such articles exists in the labor code.  Teachers may be fired for several special reasons, she explained, including physical or emotional abuse of a student or the repeated gross violation of an institution’s by-law.  In Bunicheva’s case, the school does not appear to have the grounds to fire her.

Bunicheva is convinced the move was politically motivated and that her political principles were the reason.  “They suggested I join United Russia in 2005,” she said, “when I came to work at the school, but I refused, explaining that I hold different political views.”

The local school board and the Ministry of Education and Science declined to comment.

The Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Other Russia opposition coalition has begun collecting signatures in support of Bunicheva.

The teacher’s case is reminiscent of another scandal from late January, when police pressed several Universities to expel students who had attended opposition demonstrations.  After human rights activists stepped in and publicized the case, Moscow’s Central Internal Affairs Directorate (GUVD) pledged to investigate and reveal who had sent the letters within a month.

The Fund is a well-known non-governmental organization dedicated to cross-cultural understanding and human rights. In October 2007, the group joined with Human Rights Watch to host an international forum in honor of slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Currently, the Fund was working with the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society on competing a program on international jurisdiction for evaluating the armed conflict in the breakaway region of Chechnya. The group has been critical of abuses during the conflict.

A total of six system blocks and two notebook computers have been taken. One of the group’s employees, Stanislav Dmitrievsky, told press that his cell phone was seized. Law enforcement agents told him that the search was connected with an extremism investigation of The Other Russia coalition, although he believes the raid may be connected with a book on political prisoners the group is involved in publishing. In recent months, critics have charged that anti-extremist legislation has been mis-used to target critics of the Kremlin.

Homes of Other Russia activists living in the city have also been searched. Maksim Baganov, a member of the National Bolshevik Party, told reporters that computer disks and photographs have been taken from his apartment. His identity document has also been confiscated.

Authorities have interfered with the work of the Fund for the Support of Tolerance on prior occasions. Most recently, the group was the target of a criminal case for alleged use of pirated software.

A subculture known for black fingernails, angled bangs and rock music, popular among some Russian teenagers, is under attack. On Monday, the Department of Education of the Nizhny-Novgorod oblast called for a campaign to combat a movement known as “emo”. The classification, which originated from an independent music movement in the United States, is short for “emotional,” and now relates as much to a fashion style as a genre of music.

The Department’s move comes after the local branch of the Federal Security Service Directorate (UFSB) brought forth a report describing repeated instances of “unconventional religious trends, and civic organizations disseminating ideas of a negative youth subculture.” The information first became public from a circular published by the Education Department.

The document, in part, reads: “According to information from the Nizhny-Novgorod oblast UFSB, the oblast is seeing the growth of ideas of the emo negative youth subculture, which are connected with suicidal tendencies of teenagers 12-16 years of age.”

The text then vividly describes the emo stereotype: clothing with pink and black colors and two-toned designs. Blue-black hair. Long bangs. Fingernails painted black. Piercings.

The FSB informed the educators that “the emo ideology negatively influences the unformed teenage psyche. According to the ideology, its members are immortal, and each one’s dream is to die of blood-loss in a warm bath, by cutting the veins on the wrist region. Many of the teenagers are depressed, withdrawn in their thoughts, and the girls are very inclined toward suicide on account of unrequited love. The young people drawn to the emo movement imagine that they have an ‘allergy to happiness.’”

Based on the information taken from the FSB, the department called on its teachers to maintain vigilance and to take measures directed “at explaining the negative consequences of entering into alternative civic organizations.”

Meanwhile, the emo subculture could not be reached for comment.