PRESS RELEASE
Release Date: September 15, 2006
Contact:
Mark Levin or Lesley Weiss
(202-989-2500)NCSJ PRAISES VERDICT IN MOSCOW SYNAGOGUE ATTACK
Washington, D.C. – NCSJ joins Russian Jewish leaders in praising the sentencing of Alexander Koptsev to 16 years in prison for attempted murder and inciting racial hatred.
On January 11, 2006, Koptsev stabbed nine worshippers in the Bolshaya Bronnaya Synagogue in Moscow while yelling “I have come to kill you.” The Moscow City Court had earlier sentenced Koptsev to 13 years for attempted murder, but had dropped the charge of inciting racial hatred.
“We are pleased that this brazen attack was recognized by the Court as a violation of Article 282 of Russia’s Criminal Code, incitement of ethnic, religious, and racial hatred,” stated Robert J. Meth, NCSJ Chairman. “We hope this sentence will discourage others from committing hate crimes against the Russian Jewish community.”
NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia, is the mandated central coordinating agency of the organized Jewish community for policy and activities on behalf of the estimated 1.5 million Jews in the former Soviet Union.
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Attacker Gets 16 Years - 09.15.2006
News coverage, other statements RIA Novosti Nov. 30 Attacker's Sentence Upheld Interfax Oct. 12 Israel Ambassador - Attack evidence of grass-roots anti-Semitism TotallyJewish Sep. 19 Sixteen Years For Shul Attacker JTA Sep. 18 In retrial, Moscow shul stabber given a 16-year prison sentence RJC Sep. 15 Russian Jewish Congress on Alexander Koptsev’s Sentence RIA Novosti Sep. 15 Synagogue attacker gets 16 years in prison Interfax Sep. 15 Russia’s chief rabbi: Verdict is a very timely breakthrough MosNews Aug. 25 Russian Synagogue Attacker Blames Anti-Semitic Websites RIA Novosti Aug. 24 Moscow synagogue knife attacker apologizes to victims Interfax Aug. 15 Moscow synagogue attacker not admitting guilt earlier news coverage
Supreme Court upholds verdict vs. synagogue attacker Koptsev
MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) Russia's Supreme Court upheld Thursday a guilty verdict against Alexander Koptsev, sentenced in September to 16 years in prison for stabbing nine people in a Moscow synagogue in January 2006, and for fueling religious hatred.
"The sentence comes into force as of today," the verdict reads.
Koptsev, who was 20 at the time of the attack, charged into a synagogue on January 11 shouting anti-Semitic slurs, and stabbed nine Jews with a kitchen knife before being wrestled to the ground. In his final statement before the court, he apologized to the victims and their families.
"We will probably lodge an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg," said lawyer Roza Saribzhanova, a member of Koptsev's defense team, adding that she believes the court will take into consideration her client's alleged psychiatric disorder.
The Moscow City Court refused a trial by jury for Koptsev and handed down a 16-year sentence in a maximum-security prison on September 15. The court also ordered that Koptsev undergo compulsory psychiatric treatment in prison.
Koptsev was initially given a 13-year prison sentence in March for attempting to murder nine people, but was cleared of race-hate charges. The decision was disputed by both lawyers and prosecutors.
In their appeals, Koptsev's lawyers said the defendant was mentally unstable, while prosecutors said a 13-year sentence was insufficient, and pressed for 16 years in a maximum-security prison.
The Supreme Court overturned the lower court's decision in June and ordered a retrial after Koptsev's lawyers and the prosecutors appealed against the verdict.
The court also questioned two medical experts who confirmed previous psychiatric tests that had diagnosed Koptsev with a schizophrenic disorder. The experts concluded that the defendant had been unbalanced at the time of the attack.
Members of Russia's Jewish community hailed the longer sentence for Koptsev as an indication that the authorities were beginning to act on criticism from religious and rights groups, who claim the state has done little to tackle a surge in race-hate violence and xenophobia.
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Koptsev’s attack on the worshippers in Moscow synagogue evidenced grassroots anti-Semitism in the country - Israeli Ambassador
MOSCOW (Interfax) -- Israeli Ambassador to Russia Arkady Mil-Man says that grassroots anti-Semitism in the country is a social reason for Alexander Koptsev’s attack on people in the Moscow synagogue.
‘Grassroots anti-Semitism is still to be seen in the new Russia. Koptsev’s crime demonstrated this phenomenon,’ the Ambassador said in his interview to Interfax.
He regrets that law enforcement agencies ‘do not always take effective measures’ to combat this phenomenon. The diplomat thinks that these measures may include sequestration of publications of ‘blatant anti-Semitic nature openly sold in Moscow.’
Mil-Man remarked that the most important thing is that Russia is lacking the notion of the state anti-Semitism. ‘The new Russia has not left behind the state anti-Semitism that had existed both in the Imperial and Soviet Russia,’ the interviewee underscored.
On September 15, the Moscow City Court found Koptsev guilty on charges of fomenting ethnic and religious hatred and attempted murder of two and more persons and sentenced him to sixteen years in a strict regime colony. Nine persons were injured because of his attack on 11 January 2006.
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TotallyJewish - 09.19.2006
Sixteen Years For Shul Attacker
by Alex Sholem
A man who injured nine people in a frenzied attack at a Moscow Synagogue in January has been sentenced to 16 years in prison following a retrial.
Alexander Koptsev, who was 20 at the time of the incident, was handed a 13-year sentence in March after he was found guilty of racially-motivated attempted murder.
But the sentence was overturned by Russia’s Supreme Court in June after it was appealed by both the defence, which claimed the accused was mentally unstable, and the prosecution.
And it was the prosecution argument – that Koptsev was also guilty of inciting racial hatred – that was accepted by Moscow City Court on Friday. The court also ordered that he receive compulsory psychiatric treatment during his confinement.
Koptsev, who again pleaded not guilty, apologised to his victims in court. According to a court spokesperson, he said: “Anger and hatred that was growing by the day led me away from reality and disturbed my mind. This is the only way I can explain what I did.”
According to witnesses, Koptsev shouted “I will kill Jews” prior to the stabbings at the Chabad Bronnaya shul and was only halted when he was wrestled to the ground by congregants. Later tests showed that he suffered from a schizophrenic condition that had some influence on his behaviour but that he was sane at the time of the attack.
The verdict was hailed as an important symbolic victory by the Russian Jewish Congress.
Congress President Vyacheslav Kantor told a news conference: “The authorities have systematically demonstrated their commitment to the law in the case: the first prison sentence was harsh - 13 years, but the court did not recognise it as an instance of inciting hatred.”
But he admitted that there was concern that the tough response of the court might prove to be a one-off.
He added: “Of course, there are fears that this verdict will become an episodic symbol of the authorities' justice and impartiality. Will it trigger a reverse trend? Realising all this, we will do everything possible to form and sharpen society's interest in this problem.”
Robert Meth, Chairman of NCSJ, which represents the Jewish communities of the former Soviet Union, said: “We hope this sentence will discourage others from committing hate crimes against the Russian Jewish community.”
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JTA: Global Jewish News - 09.18.2006
In retrial, Moscow shul stabber given a 16-year prison sentence
By Lev Krichevsky
MOSCOW (JTA) — A young Moscow man received a 16-year prison term for a stabbing attack on worshippers at a synagogue earlier this year.
Alexander Koptsev, 21, went on a stabbing rampage Jan. 11 at the Bolshaya Bronnaya shul in Moscow, injuring nine people. He was found guilty of attempted murder and also of inciting racial hatred, a charge that had been dropped during his first trial, in March.
The Federation of Jewish Communities, a leading Russian Jewish organization, said last Friday it was satisfied with the Moscow City Court's verdict in the retrial, calling it more adequate "because it included hate crime charges and qualified the crime as an act of anti-Semitism."
Yitzhak Kogan, rabbi of the Bolshaya Bronnaya synagogue, said he was satisfied that the court finally had agreed that Koptsev had come to the synagogue precisely to kill Jews.
On March 27, the same court found Koptsev guilty of attempted murder of two or more persons, motivated by ethnic hatred. The court sentenced him to 13 years but dropped a charge of activities aimed at inciting racial, ethnic and religious hatred.
In any case, the original sentence was overturned in June following appeals by Koptsev's lawyers, who argued that the punishment was too harsh.
After the March sentencing, representatives of the injured Jews, as well some Jewish leaders, criticized the fact that the hate crimes charge had been dropped.
Koptsev's lawyers said last Friday they were unsure if they would appeal the sentence again, but insisted that Koptsev deserved a lighter sentence because of his mentally unstable condition. In both trials, the court ordered compulsory psychiatric treatment for Koptsev.
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Russian Jewish Congress - 09.15.2006
RJC on Alexander Koptsev’s Sentence
Russian Jewish Congress (RJC) supports the sentence of Moscow City Court, declaring Alexander Koptsev guilty under Art. 282 of the RF Criminal Code («fomentation of national and religious discord»). We remind that in March Koptsev was declared not guilty under Art. 282, and it was RJC who, among others, came out for appealing from the judgment. Thereon the case was recommitted.
RJC hopes that sentence passed on Koptsev will become a precedent for judicial and law-enforcement agencies, and further on the nature of similar xenophobia-caused crimes will be determined adequately.
The court judgment should also provide edification for Koptsev’s potential followers. Attack at the parish of synagogue at Bolshaya Bronnaya street is one of the most notorious demonstration of everyday nationalism of late. Act of terrorism at Cherkizovsky Market and events in Kondopoga are nothing but other links of the same chain. The situation has to be put under control to avoid new innocent victims.
RJC is consistently upholding its position: nationalism and xenophobia are inadmissible in the modern democratic society. Furthermore, it is already clear, that they constitute a real menace for integrity of our multinational country. This is a crucial insight for every citizen of Russia, notwithstanding his national identity.
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Synagogue attacker gets 16 years in prison
MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) Moscow's City Court Friday sentenced Alexander Koptsev, who was found guilty of stabbing nine people in a synagogue in January 2006 and of fueling religious hatred, to 16 years in prison, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported from the courtroom.
The court also ordered that Koptsev undergo compulsory psychiatric treatment in prison.
Koptsev was given a 13-year prison sentence in March for attempting to murder nine people at the beginning of the year, but was cleared of race hate charges.
Russia's Supreme Court overturned the lower court's decision in June and ordered a retrial after both Koptsev's lawyers and the prosecutors appealed against the verdict.
Koptsev, who was 20 at the time of the attack, said in August, "I deeply regret what happened and apologize to the victims' relatives for damaging their health."
He also admitted at the time that he had hurt nine people, but said he had not acted out of racial hatred.
In their appeals, Koptsev's lawyers said the defendant was mentally unstable, while prosecutors said a 13-year sentence was insufficient, and pressed for 16 years in a maximum-security prison.
"The defendant shouted anti-Semitic slogans because he was hysterical that day," defense lawyer Roza Saribzhanova said. "He believes in reincarnation and did not want to kill anyone, but wanted to be killed."
But the public prosecutor demanded the defendant be found guilty of attempted murder and fuelling interethnic and religious hatred. "I also ask the court to rule that the defendant undergo psychiatric treatment during his imprisonment."
The court also questioned two medical experts who confirmed previous psychiatric tests that had diagnosed Koptsev with a schizophrenic disorder. The experts concluded that the defendant had been unbalanced at the time of the attack.
"He could not fully control his emotions and behavior, but was able to assess his actions and their significance," doctors said.
On July 31, the Moscow City Court refused a trial by jury for Koptsev.
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Russia’s chief rabbi: Verdict on Koptsev is a very timely breakthrough
MOSCOW (Interfax) -- Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar’s is convinced that the fact that Alexander Koptsev who attacked Moscow synagogue’s parishioners on January 11, 2006 has been found guilty of enticing inter-ethnic and religious hostility will help prevent other similar crimes.
‘In my view, the Moscow City Court has made an absolutely correct decision. And the most important thing that satisfies me in this verdict is that the accused has been found guilty of enticing inter-ethnic and interfaith hostility. As a reminder, it is precisely because the court of first instance did not charge the defendant under this criminal code article initially that we had to appeal its decision’, the rabbi says in his statement communicated to Interfax.
He also says that for the Jewish community the point is not how many years the one who made a knife attack against worshippers in synagogue will spend in prison, since ‘this crime was already committed and people were already taken to hospital and the only thing left for us is to thank God that none of them died’.
‘But we wanted to see to it that the verdict on the attacker against synagogue parishioners should prevent other crimes on the grounds of ethnic and religious hatred’, Rabbi Lazar stressed.
On Friday the Moscow City Court found Koptsev guilty of enticing inter-ethnic and religious hostility and an attempt on two or more persons and sentenced him to 16-year imprisonment in a tight colony.
‘I think this decision of the Moscow City Court is a breakthrough. Until now this criminal code article on enticing inter-ethnic and interfaith hostility was hardly ever applied’, the rabbi stated.
As a result, he continued, nationalistic crimes were considered only from the perspective of physical damage inflicted, ‘as aggravated hooliganism’.
Accordingly, society has developed a dangerous idea that an attack on an individual on the grounds of different faith or color is ‘just a hooliganism not worth too strict a judgment’.
Rabbi Lazar described the decision of the Moscow city Court on Koptsev’s case as ‘more than timely’, implying, in particular, the developments in the Karelian town of Kondopoga.
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Russian Synagogue Attacker Blames Anti-Semitic Websites
MOSCOW (MosNews) -- A 21-year-old Russian man who stabbed nine people in a Moscow synagogue said at his retrial Thursday that he had been “zombified” by anti-Semitic literature that he had read online, news agency ITAR TASS reported.
“You can say that I was zombified by ideas I read on the Internet,” said Alexander Koptsev, who was found guilty in March of attempted murder motivated by ethnic hatred in a January knife attack at Moscow’s Choral Synagogue.
Koptsev’s attack, during which witnesses say that he shouted “Hail Hitler!” while stabbing his victims, was caught on video by security cameras, AFP reported.
Russia’s supreme court overturned the lower court’s verdict and 13-year prison sentence in June and ordered a retrial. Both the prosecution and the defense had appealed the verdict, with the defense demanding a lighter sentence and the prosecution protesting the court’s decision to drop an additional charge of inciting inter-ethnic hatred.
“I deeply regret what happened and ask forgiveness from those who suffered and their families for the harm done to them. But I do not recognize my guilt,” Koptsev told the court.
Russian NGOs say that anti-Semitism and xenophobia are on the rise and growing deadlier in Russia.
Two young Russians admitted this week to Monday’s bombing of a Moscow market, which killed 11 people. The suspects said that they had targeted the market because of its largely Asian workforce.
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Moscow synagogue knife attacker apologizes to victims
MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) Alexander Koptsev, convicted of stabbing nine people in a Moscow synagogue at the beginning of the year, apologized to his victims Thursday.
Koptsev, who was 20 at the time of the attack, was given a 13-year prison sentence in March for the attempted murder of nine men on January 11, but was cleared of race hate charges, a decision that was later appealed by prosecutors.
"I deeply regret what happened and apologize to the victims' relatives for damaging their health," Koptsev told the court.
He continued, however, to maintain his innocence.
"I admit that I hurt nine people, but I cannot admit that this was based on racial hatred," Koptsev said, adding that he only wanted to injure the victims, not kill them.
"If I had wanted to kill them, I would have brought ammunition from home, or made some incendiary device," he said.
The contradictory testimony that Koptsev gave in court and during the preliminary investigation, had led the prosecutor to request that the interrogation transcripts be released.
Preliminary investigation established that he had operated alone, and did not belong to any extremist group.
Following his conviction in March, Russia's Supreme Court overturned the lower court's decision in June and ordered a retrial after both Koptsev's lawyers and the prosecutors appealed against the verdict.
In their appeals, Koptsev's lawyers said the defendant was mentally unstable, while prosecutors said a 13-year sentence was insufficient, and pressed for a 16-year sentence.
On July 31, the Moscow City Court refused a trial by jury for Koptsev and ruled that he be kept in custody for three more months.
The court session adjourned Thursday until August 31 when it will hear the arguments from both sides.
"Next Thursday, it will become clear what sentence the prosecutor is seeking for Alexander Koptsev," a court spokesperson said.
"The defense is also expected to put forward its arguments. Then the court will hear the last word from the defendant and adjourn to form a verdict."
On Thursday, the court also questioned two medical experts who confirmed previous psychiatric tests that had diagnosed Koptsev with a schizophrenic disorder. The experts concluded that the defendant had not been entirely sane at the time of the attack.
"He could not fully control his emotions and behavior, but was able to assess his actions and their significance," doctors said.
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Moscow synagogue attacker not admitting guilt
MOSCOW (Interfax) -- Alexander Koptsev, a man who stabbed worshippers at a Moscow synagogue on January 11, 2006, has denied any guilt at the beginning of his second trial at the Moscow City Court.
"I admit to inflicting injuries. However, I do not agree with the charges of murder or attempted murder (Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code) and fomenting religious and ethnic hatred (Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code)," the accused said after he was read the charges on Tuesday.
Earlier the Russian Supreme Court annulled the 13-sentence given to Koptsev, who stabbed nine worshipers at a Moscow synagogue in an apparent fit of racism-fueled rage.
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