Moscow Police Officer Accused Of Beating Tajiks
A Tajik migrant worker in Moscow (file photo) (RFE/RL)
Sergei Marchenko, an official with the city's prosecutor's office, said the officer "will face charges soon, and the issue of his placement in custody will be decided. An active investigation is under way now in order to locate and apprehend his accomplices."
The six students were allegedly beaten with belts and an iron wrench by a group of people who burst into their room on June 7.
Meanwhile, a United Nations antiracism monitor will visit Russia on June 12-17 at the invitation of the Russian authorities, amid concerns over a wave of attacks against foreigners across the country.
Doudou Diene, the UN's special rapporter on racism and xenophobia, will visit Moscow and St. Petersburg, the two Russian cities that have seen the most serious rise in racist attacks.
(ITAR-TASS, AP, AFP)
Yusuf Sultonov, whose 9-year-old daughter was beaten and stabbed to death in St. Petersburg on February 9, 2004 (TASS)
EXTREMISM ASCENDANT: More than half of Russians have xenophobic views, according to a report published in August 2005. In the report, rights groups say that -- despite progress in some areas -- racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism remain rife in Russia. But what worries watchdogs most are recent moves by nationalist-patriotic movements to form paramilitary groups....(more)
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