Mark Sirõk

Mark Sirők (Russian: Марк Сирык, born 12 March 1989) is a Russian-speaking Estonian political activist. He is designated as a commissar of the pro-Kremlin youth movement Nashi and a leader of the movement in Estonia.

His name's original spelling includes ő, a letter unique to Hungarian language. Accordingly, he is also known as Mark Siryk after double transliteration through Cyrillic, and his name is sometimes alternatively spelt Mark Sirök or Mark Sirõk, replacing ő with similar yet more common letters. In English-language texts, Mark Sirok is also used.

The Bronze Night in 2007

Sirők has mainly garnered attention in relation to the Bronze Night riots in Tallinn that left 150 people injured in April 2007. After the riots, he was arrested and together with Dmitri Linter, Dmitri Klenski and Maksim Reva later tried for inciting rioting. Among other evidence, investigation by Estonian Security Police had discovered that he had been organizing the "guard" near the Bronze Soldier by sending SMS's offering a pay of 80 Estonian kroons per hour, a rate somewhat higher than the average salary at that time, at several times higher than the minimum wage. The cash to be paid for the "guards" had been received from Russia.

In a highly controversial ruling, all four were acquitted in the trial court. The ruling has not gone into force as of June 2009, as an appeal to the Supreme Court of Estonia is currently pending. Since this is a landmark case, there's a possibility of appeal all the way to European Court of Human Rights, including its Great Chamber.

Political views

In an interview with Eesti Ekspress, Sirők has said he supports the constitution of Estonia and is not anti-Estonian. In particular, he highlighted his work in neutralising anti-Estonian sentiment, which he said was widespread among Nashi members. At the time of interview, Sirők had not voted in any Estonian elections on account of his youth, but said he would likely vote for Keskerakond in future elections.

See also

• Bronze Night
• Dmitri Linter
• Nochnoy Dozor (pressure group)