ARMENIAN KNIFED TO DEATH ON TRAIN
Published: Wednesday, 31 May, 2006, 11:31 AM Doha Time
Gulf Times, Qatar
May 31 2006
MOSCOW: A 19-year-old ethnic Armenian man was knifed to death on
a Russian passenger train last week by a group of youths shouting
“glory to Russia”, Ekho Moskvy radio station reported yesterday.
Artur Sardaryan was stabbed repeatedly, rupturing his heart, when
a group of young men attacked him on the train just outside Moscow,
the radio station said, citing witnesses.
Prosecutors have opened a formal investigation on charges of
racially-motivated murder, Interfax news agency reported.
Sardaryan was resident in Russia, reports said, but it was unclear
whether he had Russian citizenship.
A wave of killings and beatings in cities across Russia has raised
concerns about the rise of racist groups in the country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered police to stamp out
racist attacks and described the rise of racism as a threat to national
security in Russia.
But rights group Amnesty International said this month the government
was failing to confront the problem.
Immigrants from ex-Soviet republics are frequent targets because they
often have darker skin compared with ethnic Russians.
The chaos that followed the fall of the Soviet Union bred uncertainty
about Russia’s place in the world and anger at the perceived threat
from immigration.
Racist groups flowered. – Reuters.