Racist motives suspected in Armenian student murder in Moscow

NTV, Moscow
23 Apr 06

[Presenter] The holiday ended tragically for Vagan Abramyants,
student of the Moscow University of Public Administration. Abramyants
and his friends were on their way to mark Easter when he was attacked
by several people with knives. The attack took place at the
Pushkinskaya underground station. Abramyants died before the
ambulance arrived. The main crime theory put forward by investigators
is racism-motivated murder. Georgiy Grivinov reports details.

[Correspondent] Late at night [on 22 April] everything was as usual
at one of the most crowded stations of the Moscow underground:
passengers were getting on trains, trains were arriving on time. Only
in the centre of the hall, where dates usually meet, there was a
police cordon. Forensic experts were working at the scene. Vagan
Abramyants, 17-year-old student of the Moscow University of Public
Administration, was killed here.

[Sergey Marchenko, spokesman for Moscow prosecutor’s office,
captioned] A group of about 12 people gathered on the platform at the
Pushkinskaya underground station. They were planning to go celebrate
the holiday together. At that moment a train arrived. Six or seven
people came out, they looked Slavic. They attacked the
above-mentioned group of people for no reason.

[Correspondent] The attackers used knives. Vagan Abramyants was
stabbed in the chest. An ambulance was called quickly, but the victim
died before doctors arrived.

[Marchenko] A criminal case under Article 105, murder, has been
opened. At present all possible crime theories are being considered,
including that of the crime being motivated by ethnic hatred.

[Correspondent] Ethnic hatred was included in possible crime motives
after witnesses described what one of the attackers looked like. His
head was shaved, he was dressed in black and knee high boots.
According to information that has not yet been confirmed officially,
all policemen in Moscow have already been sent details of the
appearance of two suspects in the murder at the Pushkinskaya station.

[Video shows people at murder scene inside underground station,
ambulance, Marchenko speaking to reporters; 0605-0758]