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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: April 5, 2006 |
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The lawyer for a man sentenced to 13 years in prison for attacking worshippers in a Moscow synagogue filed an appeal with Russia's Supreme Court Tuesday to have his client's sentence reduced, arguing he was mentally unstable.
Alexander Koptsev was convicted last month of racially motivated attempted murder for stabbing nine men at the synagogue with a hunting knife in January.
Defense lawyer Vladimir Kirsanov asked the high court for a lighter sentence for Koptsev, saying he was mentally ill, ITAR-Tass reported. Kirsanov also argued that Koptsev did not kill anyone and that the injuries he inflicted did not render any of the victims disabled, according to the news agency.
The Moscow City Court dropped a charge of inciting interethnic hatred, a ruling that has already been appealed by prosecutors.
Roughly 1 million Jews live in Russia, according to the Federation of Jewish Communities, and the Jewish community is currently experiencing a revival after a wave of emigration to Israel and other countries that followed the Soviet breakup.
Rising xenophobia in recent years has seen hundreds of racially motivated attacks including on dark-skinned immigrants from former Soviet Central Asia and the Caucasus Mountains region. Rights activists say hate groups are emboldened by authorities' mild approach to prosecuting hate crimes, and complain that literature from neo-Nazis and other extremists is sold freely.
Also Tuesday, lawyers for a teenager sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for his role in the stabbing death of a 9-year Tajik girl appealed his conviction, citing technical irregularities in the trial in St. Petersburg, ITAR-Tass reported.
Roman Kazakov, 16, had initially been charged with murder in the February 2004 incident, but a jury later reduced the charge to hooliganism - a decision that outraged rights activists.
Meanwhile, the trial of 13 people charged with the murder of a Peruvian university student last fall opened in a city south of Moscow. One of the accused faces murder charges, while the others have been charged with robbery or hooliganism. All face an additional charges of carrying out a crime for racial reasons.
Enrique Arturo Angeles Hurtado was attacked at a sports complex in Voronezh last October, along with two friends - another Peruvian and a Spaniard who also attended Voronezh State University. The killing prompted a formal protest from Peru.
Over the past six years, at least seven foreigners have been killed in apparently racially motivated attacks in Voronezh, where many foreign students attend university. |
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