The Ministry of natural resources of Murmansk oblast refused to put a mark in the hunting permit of local resident Andrei Danilov that he can go on traditional hunting like the indigenous peoples of the North do. The activist appealed the decision in court, but it supported the officials. Danilov will appeal this decision, he told the correspondent of "7x7".
In February 2019, Andrei Danilov, the director of the Foundation of the Sámi heritage and development, got a hunting permit. In March, he appealed to the Ministry of natural resources and ecology of the region, so that the mark of "the possibility of hunting in the framework of the traditional way of life" was put in the document. The department turned him down, adding that at first, Danilov must prove his belonging to the indigenous peoples of the North. The activist considered that his constitutional rights had been violated and appealed to the Commissioner for human rights in Murmansk oblast Andrei Shilov. He advised to go to court:
— Why I filed this lawsuit. I can buy a license, a permit, but it is important for me that the letter of the law presupposes and the state guarantees the Sámi to do their traditional activities. And there is a mechanism, but it does not work in Murmansk oblast. And I was asked by hunters of Lovozero district to do something. They also filed eight applications for the mark in their hunting permits. This process is indicative of the fact that the Sámi need traditional hunting, - Andrei Danilov explained "7x7".
Meeting in Pervomaisk court of Murmansk took place on August 6. According to the activist, he said that devoted his time to indigenous сraft: fishing, collecting wild plants, and living in kuwaksa — a temporary home of reindeer herders, a tent of poles wrapped in a tarpaulin.
— One of the defendants — a woman from the Ministry of natural resources — responded: "What is kuwaksa?"Well, if the Ministry of natural resources does not know what kuwaksa is, and I had to explain what national housing is, then what can we talk about further? Her colleague asked me, "What is kuwaksa made of?" I explained: from a tarpaulin as all reindeer herders do, as my father did. After all, we live in the twenty-first century and use modern technologies: we go hunting by snowmobiles, by cars, use phones, radios, navigation systems. It's evolution, it's normal. Worldwide any nation uses the best, uses gadgets. The official asked about the production of firewood too: where do you make the fire? In general, the whole point of her speech was for us not to use modern means of communication, we cannot live in apartments, we cannot get paid. But these requirements are illegal, - Danilov told "7x7".
The court considered that the Ministry of natural resources had refused to put the mark in the hunting permit lawfully. Danilov will file an appeal to the Murmansk regional court and plans to reach the European court of human rights.
