On August 21st there was an explosion at the Cherkizovski market in Moscow. As a result, 10 people, including two children, died and another 50 people were severely injured. According to the investigation, the explosion was a hate crime. (26-AUG-06)
Text: HRH/Moscow, Yanina Savenko. Sources: svobodanews.ru, newsru.com. Photos: newsru.com
Just after the explosion, three suspects – students from Moscow institutes, 18 to 25 years old – were detained. The investigation implicates an informal youth nationalist group in the explosion, as the detained skinheads are members of such an organization. Not long ago participants of this group held protest actions against the gay-parade in Moscow.
Homemade bomb claims 10 lives
According to witnesses, the young men left their bags near a table in a market café. In a few minutes a deafening explosion thundered and then a gas-cylinder, which was placed nearby, was blown up. The explosion blew the market roof open. “The bomb was homemade,” said a public prosecutor. Today between 35 and 50 victims are still in hospitals; furthermore, eleven of them are in critical condition. The overwhelming majority of the deceased and injured are newcomers from Caucasian and transcaucasian republics and also from Central and South-East Asia. The bomb exploded in a shopping line where Chinese, Vietnamese and Azerbaijan citizens worked. Among victims were random visitors who were hit by the blast wave.
Ethnic hatred as a motive
At first, the investigation considered “a collision of intense commercial interests or a banal criminal conflict” to be the main reason for the crime, but an act of terrorism was not ruled out, – said the general Public Prosecutor of Moscow. However, the thorough investigation discovered that the crime was committed on the grounds of racial hatred. Besides, investigating bodies believe that one of the detained criminals has already participated in similar crimes in Moscow and Moscow region. The detained students admitted to the lawyers that they were going to kill foreign students. They showed the place where they made the bomb and where they kept the necessary ingredients. Moreover, they had so much “raw material” that they could have made another explosive assembly. During a search in a youth hostel in a room of the criminals policemen discovered a library full of Fascist literature; they also found a map where the market’s café and the possible escape routes were drawn.
Increase of xenophobia
According to surveys, more than 60% of the Russian population upholds the slogan “Russia is for Russians!” to some extent. 19 murders and 160 assaults considered racially motivated were registered during the first half of this year. Moreover, skinheads often commit such crimes openly, in a pointed manner in broad daylight and even in crowded streets. Evidently, they try to frighten those people who are “not native” Russians. The Skinheads’ movement claims 50000 participants and is gaining momentum and spreading from big regional centers to small towns and villages. “The fact that nationalist groups are no more marginal is disconcerting, besides, some of the State Duma deputies share such views”, say human rights activists. In spite of the rapid increase of racially-motivated killings, beatings and discrimination the government still doesn’t have any sort of counteraction program.
