19 April 2005, 02:17
Jury returns verdict in skinhead murder case
The jury returned a guilty verdict for seven defendants and acquitted one in a "skinhead" trial in the Volgograd regional court.
The trial of a group of young people charged with murdering three natives of Middle Asia states has continued in Volgograd since July 2003. The defendants were eleven at the beginning. The criminal case was closed with respect to three of them (charged with "hooliganism" under Article 213 of the Russian Criminal Code) in October 2004 because of changes in the legislation, so the defendants became eight. They all are vocational school students and are charged with murder under Part 2, Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code.
Between 2 and 8 October 2002 they committed three murders of natives of Middle Asia states in various districts in Volgograd, according to the prosecution case. One was kicked and the two others were beaten to death with baseball bats, sticks and fragments of pipes.
