Reuters - 07.16.2002

 

from Johnson's Russia List

Five Russians On Trial For Rampage Through Market

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Five young Muscovites went on trial on Tuesday charged with public order violations and conspiracy to murder relating to a racist rampage through a Moscow street market last year.

Hundreds of right-wing "skinhead" extremists brandishing iron bars charged through market stalls at Tsarytsyno market run by traders from southern Russia and then fanned out to other districts. Three people were killed and 30 hurt.

Aged from 18 to 23, those charged stood defiantly in a metal cage reserved for defendants. One had his head clean shaven and sported a Nazi-like insignia on his neck.

All except one deny the charges.

"My client said he was not there during the riots and I trust him. We will establish the truth during court hearings," lawyer Dmitry Davydenko told Reuters.

Defence lawyers said they expected the trial to last for weeks in view of the large amount of evidence.

Among those attending the initial hearing was an Azeri trader hurt in the fracas last October.

Members of Russian National Unity, a right-wing paramilitary group that also wears insignia similar to a Nazi swastika, gathered outside the court but there were no incidents.

Russia has recently seen a surge of racist violence often directed against ethnic groups from the Caucasus region which occupy large sections of street markets in big cities.

Last month, in Moscow's worst violence in years, hundreds of young soccer fans smashed and set fire to cars a short walk from the Kremlin after Russia lost to Japan in the World Cup finals. One schoolboy was killed in the melee.

A law aimed at clamping down on extremist activity was rushed through parliament in less than a month and is now to be signed into law by President Vladimir Putin.