Synagogue attacker charged with murder attempt, instigating hatred
MOSCOW, February 2 (Itar-Tass) -- Muscovite Alexander Koptsev, 20, who attacked the congregation in a synagogue in Bolshaya Bronnaya Street and injured eight people on January 11, is charged under two articles of the Criminal Code, Moscow Prosecutor Anatoly Zuyev said on Thursday.
He noted that Koptsev is charged with an attempted murder of two and more people out of national and religious hatred and strife, and with taking actions aimed at the instigation of hatred and strife, as well as the humiliation of the human dignity with violence. It was earlier reported that Koptsev is charged under three articles of the Criminal Code.
“The first article carries from eight to 20 years in prison or life in prison, the second article envisages the punishment from a fine to five years in prison,” the prosecutor emphasized.
“Already at the initial stage of the investigation Koptsev’s acquaintances were established, his parents and relatives, his classmates and friends, school teachers and teachers of the college where he earlier studied were interrogated,” Zuyev pointed out. “Meanwhile, nothing abnormal and extraordinary was exposed,” he remarked. The prosecutor noted that the prosecutor’s office, the Moscow investigation department and Federal Security Service department found out in the first days of investigation that Koptsev had no accomplices. “He grew up in a normal, quite well-to-do family, did not drink alcohol or used drugs, was not registered in a mental home or an addiction clinic. Police had no claims to him,” Zuyev indicated.
Meanwhile, according to him, a comprehensive psychiatric expertise showed that Koptsev has a mental disorder, but at the moment of the crime he was found sane and, therefore, could be brought to justice, the prosecutor noted.
“The investigators found out that he was not involved in rightwing nationalistic groups or informal extremist youth organisations,” he added.
Meanwhile, the expertise showed that the extremist literature confiscated from Koptsev and the materials he found in the Internet were aimed at instigating ethnic strife. In this connection, the Moscow prosecutor’s office, the Federal Security Service department and the Moscow main interior department have taken additional measures to curb the distribution of extremist literature. According to the prosecutor, the sale of this literature in the streets and in bookstores was curbed.
“We will react adequately to such crimes in the future,” Zuyev said. “The most important thing is active preventive measures, that is to say the creation of such environment in society when each of us would not be indifferent to such negative phenomena,” the Moscow prosecutor said.
He noted that Koptsev is charged with an attempted murder of two and more people out of national and religious hatred and strife, and with taking actions aimed at the instigation of hatred and strife, as well as the humiliation of the human dignity with violence. It was earlier reported that Koptsev is charged under three articles of the Criminal Code.
“The first article carries from eight to 20 years in prison or life in prison, the second article envisages the punishment from a fine to five years in prison,” the prosecutor emphasized.
“Already at the initial stage of the investigation Koptsev’s acquaintances were established, his parents and relatives, his classmates and friends, school teachers and teachers of the college where he earlier studied were interrogated,” Zuyev pointed out. “Meanwhile, nothing abnormal and extraordinary was exposed,” he remarked. The prosecutor noted that the prosecutor’s office, the Moscow investigation department and Federal Security Service department found out in the first days of investigation that Koptsev had no accomplices. “He grew up in a normal, quite well-to-do family, did not drink alcohol or used drugs, was not registered in a mental home or an addiction clinic. Police had no claims to him,” Zuyev indicated.
Meanwhile, according to him, a comprehensive psychiatric expertise showed that Koptsev has a mental disorder, but at the moment of the crime he was found sane and, therefore, could be brought to justice, the prosecutor noted.
“The investigators found out that he was not involved in rightwing nationalistic groups or informal extremist youth organisations,” he added.
Meanwhile, the expertise showed that the extremist literature confiscated from Koptsev and the materials he found in the Internet were aimed at instigating ethnic strife. In this connection, the Moscow prosecutor’s office, the Federal Security Service department and the Moscow main interior department have taken additional measures to curb the distribution of extremist literature. According to the prosecutor, the sale of this literature in the streets and in bookstores was curbed.
“We will react adequately to such crimes in the future,” Zuyev said. “The most important thing is active preventive measures, that is to say the creation of such environment in society when each of us would not be indifferent to such negative phenomena,” the Moscow prosecutor said.
posted by Marko at 2/02/2006 08:57:00 AM
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