Russian Court Jails Murderous Racist Skinhead Gang

Russia's most sensational skinhead trial ended today when a gang of teenagers who murdered 20 migrant workers and attempted to kill 12 others were given lengthy terms in prison.

The gang ? led by two 17-year-old students, Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky ? targeted non-Russian workers living in Moscow. The teenagers picked their victims randomly, stabbing them to death and then walking away.

Police had no clue of their prolific racist killing spree until April 2007, when the two attacked an Armenian businessman, 46-year-old Karen Abramian. They stabbed him from behind as he entered his Moscow apartment block.

As Abramian lay dying on the ground, a neighbor pursued the two teenagers, and flagged down a police car. Police captured Ryno and Skachevsky as they escaped in a tram. Their clothes were covered in blood and they were found carrying 25cm-long knives.

In custody, they boasted of their numerous victims ? a claim police treated with skepticism. Later, however, detectives established the gang had indeed murdered 20 people, including Tajik laborers, Chinese migrants and a chess grandmaster from Russia's far east.

The trial comes at a time when racist violence in Russia is increasing. According to Sova, an information center in Moscow that monitors hate crime, the number of racist murders in 2008 has reached 80, compared with 50 in 2004. So far in 2008 , 310 people have been beaten up or wounded.

Last week an ultranationalist group dumped the severed head of a Tajik man in a bin in western Moscow. The organization, calling itself the Militant Organization of Russian Nationalists, accused the authorities of failing to control immigration and said it had left the head in protest outside the local council building.

Last year, a chilling video appeared on the internet showing the neo-Nazi execution of two men, a Tajik and a Dagestani, in a Russian forest. One of the victims was beheaded; the other was shot. The authorities initially dismissed the video as a hoax. Later, however, it emergedit was genuine.

Human rights groups say law enforcement agencies are generally reluctant to investigate race crime, preferring to categorize it with the lesser charge of hooliganism. Additionally, judges have in the past handed out minor jail sentences for racial attacks.

"There is a very widespread xenophobic prejudice in Russian society," Alexander Verkhovsky, Sova's director, told the Guardian. "More than 50% think that ethnic minorities should be expelled from society or from their region, and that ethnic Russians should have certain privileges."

He added: "These 50% don't support any radical ideas in practice. But there are some 2,000-3,000 young guys who turn to violent manifestations of the same attitudes."

Ryno and Skachevsky, now 19, were both jailed for 10 years today ? the maximum sentence available for juveniles under Russian law. Five other defendants were given sentences ranging from six to 20 years. Two were acquitted, including a teenage girl who videoed a brutal attack on a Chinese youth.

Their five-month trial was held in secret. According to defence lawyers, none of the seven-member gang expressed much remorse. The gang shared ultranationalist views but did not look like typical skinheads, the lawyers added. Several wore glasses.

Ryno arrived in Moscow from Yekaterinburg in 2006, and was studying at art collage, where he painted orthodox icons. Skachevsky was a high-achieving pupil who had even received a school prize for his academic efforts. Both were members of the Slavic Union, a well-established neo-Nazi organization.

Prosecutors said the gang was made up of two distinct groups. Together, their murderous spree went on from August 2006 to August 2007, they said, adding that the gang had been inspired by ideas of "Russian ethnic supremacy" and the "inferiority of non-Slavs".

"The defendants formed organized groups to kill people coming from former Soviet republics in central Asia and the Caucasus regions," the prosecutors said.

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