Skinhead girl convicted in Moscow for attacking Dagestanis

Today, the Moscow City Court (MCC) has sentenced Darya Botvinskaya (Tikhanova) to five years at a minimum security colony for assaulting two natives of Dagestan under the motive of ethnic hatred. During the trial, the defendant pled guilty.

Let us remind you that the attack on the two Dagestanis occurred on June 10, 2007, in one of electric trains of the Savyolovski direction of the Moscow Railways. The 17-year-old Darya Botvinskaya was coming back to Moscow together with her six friends from a picnic. In the electric train they attacked with knives two natives of Dagestan - Samedov and Feizullaev, the indictment says.

The Dagestanis tried to escape, but the skinheads chased them, continuing stabbing their victims. According to investigators, the beating continued in the vestibule. Samedov died from blood loss; doctors managed to save Feizullaev, even though he had 28 stab wounds in his chest, back, face, arms and legs.

Six skinheads led by Andrei Pochukaev, nicknamed "Balamut" (Trouble), were convicted on October 1, 2009. The MCC sentenced them to prison terms from 7.5 to 19 years. Besides, Pochukaev was earlier a figurant in the case about a pogrom organized by skinheads in the Yasenevo marketplace in April 2001.

The case of the minor Darya Tikhanova had been separated into an individual proceeding and suspended, because she was hiding from the investigation, said the spokesman of the Moscow Transport Prosecutor's Office.

Darya Botvinskaya is charged under Part 2, Article 105 (murder committed by a group of persons on the grounds of ethnic hatred), Part 3, Article 30, and Part 2, Article 105 (attempt to kill two persons by a group of persons on the grounds of ethnic hatred), of the Russian Criminal Code. According to testimonies of her accomplices, she was actively involved in the crime: she struck Feizullaev with a beer bottle struck on his head, kicked and stabbed him and his friend.

During the debate, the state prosecutor asked for her a five-year suspended imprisonment, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

Today, Judge Andrei Korotkov has announced the verdict in the case. By comparing and analyzing the testimonies of Botvinskaya's accomplices, the witnesses - passengers of the trains, the victim Feizullaev, and the findings of forensic experts, the judge has concluded that the defendant is guilty of the charges brought against her.

The court has failed to find any aggravating circumstances; as to the mitigating ones, her age was announced (at the time of the crime she was a minor), lack of criminal record and her and her two-month baby, whom she is actively upbringing.

As a result, for the murder the court appointed for Botvinskaya 4 years and 10 months of imprisonment; for attempted murder - 4 years, and in combination - five years in prison, suspended until her child is 14 years old.

Besides, the court ordered her to pay 50,000 roubles to Feizullaev under his civil suit on compensation for moral damage. The victim had claimed 1 million roubles, but the court reduced the amount of compensation.