Skinhead gang of ten put on trial

4 Aug, 2009 13:31 / Updated 15 years ago

A gang of skinheads is on trial in a Moscow city court. They are accused of attacking Asians and Chinese, organizing explosions, and murder.

Prosecutors have already shown evidence on one of the episodes of the case, which is the killing of an 18-year-old Kyrgyz man in February last year.

The man is reported to have been brutally beaten and stabbed. Among those who committed the crime is 17-year-old Evgenia Zhikhareva. Prosecutors say that she was one of the leaders of the gang and, like most of them, was underage when the crime was committed.

By now, only six out of the ten individuals accused have pleaded partially guilty.

The group allegedly coordinated their actions through the internet. They also recorded their violence on mobile phones and posted the videos online.

According to the prosecution, the gang gathered on the outskirts of Moscow and started to pursue people whose appearance they deemed non-Slavic.

The mastermind of the gang Ilya Shutko, 19, has already been convicted of murder and will be imprisoned for seven and a half years.