A
jury in St. Petersburg, Russia found five neo-Nazis guilty of a hate
crime, according to a February 26, 2010 report by the Regnum news
agency. The jury found all five defendants guilty of hooliganism
motivated by ethnic hatred, and one of the defendants guilty of
attempted murder. According to the verdict, in November 2007, the
defendants beat up on the street a young woman of mixed African and
Russian heritage. One of them, identified only his surname of
Maslenikov, then stabbed the young woman six times. Luckily, the
victim's cries for help attracted enough attention that the neo-Nazis
were frightened off by a gathering crowd of witnesses. The victim was
taken to the hospital with wounds to her kidney, but fortunately
survived.
Police reportedly found extremist literature and
other neo-Nazi paraphernalia in the suspects' homes. Perhaps most
disturbing of all is the fact that two of the suspects were cadets at a
local police academy, while another was enrolled at the prestigious
Petersburg State University.