The St. Petersburg Times - News - Eight Jailed in Novosibirsk For Attacking Immigrants

A Novosibirsk regional court on Tuesday found eight skinheads guilty of carrying out four racially motivated attacks on Tajik and Uzbek immigrants, but threw out charges they had incited ethnic hatred. Five defendants were sentenced to six to 10 years in prison in Novosibirsk, while the other three were given suspended sentences, Interfax reported. The suspected leader of the group, Mikhail Rodoshkevich, 21, will be tried separately later. He is currently undergoing psychiatric treatment in a hospital. (...) Investigators found Nazi-themed books and extremist videotapes in the apartments of the men, aged 18 to 22. The court ruled that the men belonged to a 20-member group called White Brotherhood, and that the group staged attacks on dark-skinned migrants in Novosibirsk and the surrounding region. The other members of the group have not been charged with wrongdoing. “The aim of the group, which claimed to belong to ‘a nation of clean Aryans,’ was to clear the cities of non-Russians. They wore black leather jackets with white stripes and a clenched fist,” the verdict said, Interfax reported. The group used chains, knives, electroshock and canes against their victims. After the assaults, they stole the victim’s money and clothes and ordered them to leave the region, the verdict said.