Moscow Conviction Overturned - 06.20.2006

Russian court overturns conviction of synagogue attacker, orders retrial

NCSJ Statement

Today, June 20, 2006, the Russian Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Alexander Koptsev, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison for attacking nine worshippers at a Moscow synagogue and ordered a new trial. 

Both sides are claiming today’s ruling as a victory. The defense, as well as the prosecution, had contested Koptsev’s sentence for the January stabbings. 

Koptsev’s defense lawyers filed an appeal to the Supreme Court to have his sentence reduced claiming he was mentally unstable. Prosecutors protested the judge’s ruling to drop a charge against Koptsev for inciting interethnic hatred and appealed to include it. 

In a statement released today, Rabbi Berel Lazar, one of the chief rabbis of Moscow said that “the main thing for us is that the defendant's actions are qualified as anti-Semitic and aimed at inflaming ethnic and religious hatred.” Rabbi Lazar went on to say that he hoped that a “retrial will proceed from this interpretation."

NCSJ is in the process of contacting Jewish community leaders, as well as U.S. and Russian officials to obtain more information on the ruling.


News

Jun. 21	MosNews	Russian Attacker Stabs Synagogue’s Door Shouting Anti-Semitic Slogans
Jun. 20	AP	Synagogue Attacker to Get New Trial
Jun. 20	RIA Novosti	Russia chief rabbi hopes court rules synagogue attack race-hate
earlier coverage
Mar. 27		Moscow Shul Stabber Sentenced
Jan.-Mar.		Shul Attack Provokes Worldwide Outcry
Jan. 11		Nine Stabbed in Moscow Shul Attack

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MosNews - 06.21.2006

Russian Attacker Stabs Synagogue’s Door Shouting Anti-Semitic Slogans


(MosNews) - An unidentified man climbed over the fence of a Yekaterinburg synagogue, ran up to the entrance and, while shouting anti-Semitic slogans, knived the door about ten times, the Russian Federation of Jewish Communities told Interfax.

The attacker was seized and placed in the Yekaterinburg Oktyabrsky district’s lockup, and the administration of the local Jewish community reported the incident to the prosecutor’s office, the federation said.

Law enforcement agencies so far have given no additional details on the incident.

This is not the first attack of synagogue in Russia. Earlier this year another Russian anti-Semite, Alexander Koptsev, burst into the synagogue on Bolshaya Bronnaya street in Moscow and stabbed eight people with a hunting knife before being wrestled to the ground by the rabbi and his son.

Koptsev was charged with racially-motivated attempted murder and humiliation of a religious group. He told investigators that he was jealous of Jews and their better living standards and was inspired to act by books and internet websites.

Russia’s chief rabbi stated then that the attack was a symptom of the general climate of intolerance and xenophobia in Russia.


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Associated Press - 06.20.2006

Synagogue Attacker to Get New Trial


(AP) The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the conviction of a man sentenced to 13 years in prison for attacking worshipers at a Moscow synagogue and ordered a new trial, the court's spokesman said. 

The verdict came after both the prosecution and the defense contested the sentence of Alexander Koptsev, who was convicted of stabbing nine men with a hunting knife at the Chabad Synagogue in January. 

Koptsev's lawyers filed an appeal to the Supreme Court in April to have his sentence reduced, arguing he was mentally unstable. 

Prosecutors, meanwhile, protested the judge's decision to drop a charge against Koptsev for inciting interethnic hatred and appealed to include it. 

Supreme Court spokesman Pavel Odintsov said the reasoning behind Tuesday's decision would be made public later.


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RIA Novosti - 06.20.2006

Russia chief rabbi hopes court rules synagogue attack race-hate

MOSCOW, June 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's chief rabbi said Tuesday he was glad a court had quashed a 13-year verdict for a Moscow synagogue attacker and said he hoped for a new race-hate ruling.

The Supreme Court of Russia overturned Tuesday a ruling of the Moscow City Court, which had sentenced Alexander Koptsev, 21, to a prison term for the attempted murder of nine people at a synagogue in central Moscow on January 11, but cleared him of instigating racial hatred. The case was sent for a retrial.

"The main thing for us is that the defendant's actions are qualified as anti-Semitic and aimed at inflaming ethnic and religious hatred," Berl Lazaar said. "I hope the retrial will proceed from this interpretation."

Lazaar said Koptsev had only attacked people who were praying and had made no secret during the trial that he was going to "kill Jews - people he did not know personally."

The chief rabbi said that now that "many foreign politicians and international media say that xenophobia is on the rise in Russia and accuse the authorities of turning a blind eye, the Supreme Court ruling could prove that the authorities, including the judiciary, are really concerned about nationalist trends."

The rabbi said he hoped that the new verdict would be a strong warning signal to any extremists and not only anti-Semites.

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