Kondopoga, in the Republic of Karelia, experienced a wave of racial violence in early September 2006 after two local residents were killed and five others injured in a restaurant brawl with Chechens August 30.
The incident sparked racially motivated violence in the community, and a wave of nationalist protests elsewhere in the country. A total of 109 people were detained in the city on suspicion of involvement in pogroms and arson attacks, and 25 rioters were arrested. Seventeen criminal cases were opened following the incident.
Lawyer Natalia Gorushneva said her client, Sergei Mozgalev, and another defendant, Sergei Pliyev, who are accused of initiating a brawl at the Chaika restaurant August 30, want the barman, Ramil Guseinov, who suffered in the brawl, to be held criminally liable for his part in the violence.
The lawyer said Mozgalev and Pliyev were also attacked in the brawl, and maintain that Guseinov assaulted them.
The justice court of Kondopoga will consider the separate case March 12.
Lawyers also want to charge two other plaintiffs in the case. However, they are currently in Azerbaijan and their whereabouts are unknown.
