Russian court sentences 14 neo-Nazis to jail for hate killings, assaults
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}MOSCOW (AP) — A court in central Russia has sentenced a neo-Nazi leader to life in jail and imprisoned 13 others for four hate killings and multiple assaults.
The Tver city court said in a statement Tuesday that 22-year-old Dmitry Orlov led a cell of the Russian National Unity, a once-powerful organization that since 1990 has actively advocated white supremacy and Orthodox Christian fundamentalism.
It says the other defendants, including three teenagers, received sentences of between 3 1/2 and 17 years.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In addition to the attacks, the court says, the defendants also owned arms and extremist literature and desecrated Muslim and Jewish cemeteries.
The Kremlin has recently cracked down on ultranationalists amid a spike in ethnic violence and killings of non-Slavs: mostly labor migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus.