Litigation on beating Caucasian schoolchildren starts in St Petersburg

On October 28, the Kalinin District Court of St Petersburg started considering on the merits the case on beaten school children - natives from the Caucasus.

Six defendants are accused of inciting hatred or enmity with use of violence and hooliganism committed by a group of persons on prior concert, and of inflicting intentional heavy bodily harm.

As reported by the Department of Information of the Interregional Human Rights Association AGORA", before the break was announced in the session, one witness was questioned on the circumstance of the violent beating. Three other witnesses failed to appear; and the judge ruled to attach them to the next session.

In total there are 24 witnesses in the Karimov-and-Ramazanov's case, the Open Information Agency reports.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" reported that in February 2009 Tagir Kerimov, a ninth form pupil from St Petersburg, was severely beaten in the school yard by a grouping of youngsters. The attackers shouted: "Beat the blacks!", "Kill the Khach!", "Russia is for Russians!" and the like. The boy was saved by his friend Suleiman Ramazanov, who blocked Tagir with his body and shouted that he was no longer breathing.

Tagir spent several months in coma and then took his treatment in Dagestan from severe injuries, including heavy brain contusion and multiple facial bruises.

Parents of Tagir Kerimov and Suleiman Ramazanov went to court. However, Elena Kiryukhina, a forensic expert at the Centre of Forensic Examinations of the North-West District, concluded that the attackers' cries were not aimed to kindle interethnic hatred. Later this conclusion was overturned by experts from the Lobachevsky Nizhni Novgorod State University.

The criminal case of Kerimov and Ramazanov was taken under control by the Russian Public Chamber and the Investigatory Committee of St Petersburg. Tagir Kerimov's interests are defended by the AGORA.