Vigilante attacks on the rise in Russia

A spate of high-profile vigilante attacks has led to fears that the problem is getting out of control in Russia. A number of recent incidents have hit the headlines, featuring ordinary people taking the law into their own hands.

Some of those who commit such crimes often become public heroes.

The cases of Aleksandr Kuznetsov and Vitaly Kaloev are just two examples of an alarming trend which appears to be growing.
 
Kuznetsov was a professional boxer who killed a young Uzbek man he believed had raped his stepson. Now he can’t walk the streets of St Petersburg without people stopping him to shake his hand.
 
Kaloev, who infamously killed a Swiss air traffic controller after losing his family in a plane crash, was given a hero’s welcome in Russia on his release in November. He is now the deputy minister for construction in his native republic of North Ossetia.
 
But while many people tend to justify revenge crimes, the law in Russia takes a stricter view.

Though temporary insanity is seen as a mitigating circumstance, murder motivated by revenge is grouped alongside race-related killings and automatically carries a higher sentence.
 
So why do people reject the legal route? Experts say people are tired of criminal mobs and violence.

Criminal psychiatrist Mikhail Vinogradov says: "As some people don’t see any protection from the state they start to take up weapons and protect themselves. Some see this as heroic.