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Sunday, 11.11.2007
Racist murders: Police arrest skinheads
Moscow. The police have arrested a group of ultra-right youths suspected of killing at least 17 foreigners. They are not the only racist hit squad in Moscow.
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In April, following the murder of an Armenian, state prosecutors arrested two 18-year olds who soon confessed to the crime, and then admitted having committed other murders. As a result of the investigation, the police arrested another two members of the band, both of whom are said to be 19 years old.
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At least 25 attacks in half a year The group is accused of at least 25 attacks on foreigners of non-Slavic appearances between October 2006 and April 2007. 17 people died, 8 were injured.
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Chess star beaten to death by youths Xenophobia and violence have increased dramatically among young men recently. On October 20th, the famous Russian Yakutian chess player Sergei Nikolakayev fell victim to a racist attack in Moscow. A band of juveniles beat him to death. One of the attackers filmed the attack on his mobile phone and posted it on the Internet.
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Directly after Nikolayev’s murder, the gang went on to attack and badly injure an Uzbekh janitor. The police arrested six people.
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Other members of the group also went on to attack numerous foreigners in southwest Moscow on the same day, especially people from Asia or the Caucasus. The police later established there had been 27 racist attacks on one day.
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Increase in racist attacks a statistical fact According to the human rights organisation Sowa, in the first nine months of 2007, a total of 46 people were killed in such attacks, and several hundred were injured. Moscow tops the lists of attacks. Many attacks also took place in Petersburg, Nizhny Novogorod and Voronezh.
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On the Day of National Unity, several thousand nationalists marched through the Moscow city centre protesting against excessive immigration in Russia. Along with xenophobic chants, participants shouted ‘Sieg Heil’ and gave the Nazi salute. The march had been approved by authorities despite protests by human rights activists.
(ab/.rufo/Moskau)
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