ACTION OF PROTEST AGAINST MURDERS ON NATIONAL GROUND HELD IN MOSCOW

MOSCOW, JUNE 9, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. An action in memory of
people killed by skin-heads on the ground of national hatred and
intolerance was held on June 3, at 8:00 pm, in Moscow Vasilyevski
Spusk street. According to the Yerkramas (Territory) newspaper of
Armenians of Russia, the action was organized by a group of Armenian
youth, mainly representatives of Armenian youth from Moscow and
Podmoskovye took part in it. Students and lecturers of Moscow State
University (MSU), as well as a number of Armenian NGOs, such as the
Armenian Student Association of MSU and the Union of Intellectual
Cooperation of Armenian Youth are among the organizers. The Union of
Armenians of Russia is known to have been refused to take part in the
action motivating this by the circumstance that the action is not
sanctioned by the authorities.

To recap, murder of 19-year-old Armenian, Artur Sardarian was
committed on May 25 on Moscow suburban electric train. The
investigation considers that the crime was committed by the motives of
national hatred. Two unknown persons killed the boy with a knife
before dozens of witnesses. This is not the first murder of Armenians
in the recent period. On April 22, skin-heads stabbed 17-year-old
Armenian student Vigen Abrahamians at the Pushkinskaya station of
Moscow underground, before numerous witnesses. Four of his friends
were beaten, two of them got traumas. The investigation considers the
version of a murder on the national ground in this case, too. The
search of the criminals has not given any results yet.