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Four skinheads might face 10-year jail terms for beating in Riga

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  • Four skinheads might face 10-year jail terms for beating in Riga

    Baltic News Service, Latvia
    October 30, 2008 Thursday 11:55 PM EET



    FOUR SKINHEADS MIGHT FACE TEN-YEAR JAIL TERMS FOR BEATING ROMAS,
    ARMENIANS IN RIGA

    RIGA Oct 30


    The Riga court district prosecutor's office has just handed the Riga
    Regional Court a criminal case brining charges against four supporters
    of skinhead movement for beating Romas and Armenians in Riga.

    The prosecutor's office press service said that the 19-22 years old
    youths have been accused of incitement of race hatred if it is related
    with violence or threat and done in a group of persons. Such a crime
    carries a jail term of ten years.

    The State Police in cooperation with the Security Police in February
    detained a group of skinheads. The investigation showed that in the
    fall of 2007 they battered two 14-15 years old Roma girls in Riga due
    to racial motives.

    According to the testimony of the mother of one of the girls at the
    integration minister's secretariat, the girls were heading to a shop,
    when they met youths looking like skinheads at the tram stop. When
    they returned from the shop, the youths seen at the tram stop attacked
    them, kicked them into their faces and used metal objects to beat
    them. Then the youths ran away.

    Similar beatings took place in February this year, when the youths
    with the shouts "beat the blacks" assaulted two Armenians.

    In both cases assaults had been done due to racial motives.

    The Security Police initially defined the crime against the girls as
    hooliganism. Latvian Ombudsman's Office claimed that the girls were
    battered for their ethnic origin. Relatives of the victims also
    reproached the police for passivity, not detaining the assaulters
    immediately.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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