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Court in Siberia sentences three skinheads to prison terms - 1

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(Adds lawyer's remarks in paragraphs 6-9)

NOVOSIBIRSK, December 28 (RIA Novosti) - A court in West Siberia has sentenced three skinheads convicted of committing several racially motivated attacks on foreigners to between five and a half and eight years in prison, a court official said Thursday.

The convicts were accused of beating up two Tajiks in the town of Berdsk, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the regional center of Novosibirsk, and of participating in the September 2005 attack on a local workshop that employed mainly Uzbek nationals, which left four foreign workers hospitalized with various injuries.

The court also charged them with inciting race hate, including painting nationalist graffiti on the walls of buildings and fences. A search of their homes revealed nationalist and extremist literature.

Another suspect of the attacks has been released following the expiration of the statute of limitations.

The convicts partially admitted their guilt, but denied participating in an organized skinhead group.

A lawyer for one of the convicts said Thursday he would appeal the verdict in a higher court because the punishment was too severe.

"I believe the verdict is unreasonably severe," Yuri Mironov said. "We will appeal it in higher courts."

He also said the convicts have not been involved in organizing an extremist group, and that the court has withdrawn related charges.

"They have not been involved in extremist activities," the lawyer said, adding that the convicts simply wanted to punish the "dark-skinned" men for allegedly raping a young woman.

A surge in violence targeting foreigners with non-Slavic features has prompted Russian and foreign human rights groups in recent months to raise concerns over the alarming spread of racist and xenophobic attitudes in the country.

The problem came into the spotlight after the murder of two Russians in an interethnic brawl in the northwestern town of Kondopoga sparked a wave of racial violence in early September. The local community accused authorities of failing to protect them or safeguard their interests, and of taking bribes from criminal immigrant groups.

In a recent race-hate case, a court in the eastern Russian city of Yekaterinburg handed down prison terms for two young members of a skinhead group convicted of a racially motivated attack on a Somali television reporter.

The Interior Ministry said in November it is currently monitoring 150 extremist groups in Russia, especially race-hate groups, which have a total membership of around 10,000.

About 80% of the extremist groups' members are under 30, and most are based in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Samara and Voronezh Regions, according to the ministry's data.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier said that the rise in race-hate crime is a disgrace, and has demanded that police take radical measures to improve the situation.

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