Skinheads attack Armenian boy in central Russian town

Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow
22 Apr 04

Skinheads have attacked an 11-year-old Armenian boy in Kostroma
[central Russia].

The Internet publication Grani.ru quoted local television as saying
that several young men waited for the boy in front of a local food
store and when he came out splashed some petrol over him and set him
alight.

The child’s clothes caught fire and his face and hands were slightly
burnt. Fortunately passers-by quickly put the fire out.

The boy was given first-aid treatment in hospital and then went home.
Witnesses to the incident said that the attackers looked very much
like skinheads, their heads were shaved and they wore black
uniform-like clothes. The attackers managed to get away.

[When commenting on the incident in an interview with Ekho Moskvy
radio at 1236 gmt on 22 April, Ara Abramyan, the chairman of the World
Armenian Congress, said that measures taken by Russian authorities to
counteract manifestations of nationalism have brought no results.

“Skinheads should be outlawed, otherwise they remain unpunished and
this brings about new crimes,” he said.