26 February 2008
Nineteen members of a Russian neo-Nazi group have been charged with vandalizing Jewish and Muslim cemeteries. Prosecutors in Tver, a city of more than 400,000 inhabitants about 150 miles from Moscow, also charged members of the ‘Russian National Unity’ group with murder motivated by ethnic hatred and assault.
According to a report by the Russian Jewish website ‘Jewish.ru’, the suspects are alleged to have desecrated approximately 50 Jewish gravestones at the Dmitrovo-Cherkassy cemetery in August 2005. They are also accused of damaging and painting swastikas on some 200 Jewish and Muslim gravestones at the Pervomayskoe and Dmitrovo-Cherkassy cemeteries. The suspects also reportedly left leaflets calling for the murder of non-Russians.
