MOSCOW, November 20 (RIA Novosti) - A Moscow court sentenced Monday three people accused of an attack on the culture minister of a southern republic to between 12 and 18 months in prison.
In the early hours of April 1, Zaur Tutov, Kabardino-Balkaria's culture minister, was attacked by a group of 12-15 people at night in Moscow, and hospitalized with a broken jawbone and a concussion. The minister's lawyer said the attack was racially motivated.
The Izmailovsky Court of Moscow found Stanislav Novokhatsky, Boris Kolodin and Yevgeny Konyshev guilty of intentional and racially motivated infliction of bodily harm.
Tutov said he has no financial claims against the accused.
Russia experienced a wave of attacks on non-white foreigners this year, particularly in St. Petersburg, where an Indian student was stabbed to death in September and a Sudanese national attacked the same month.
