Four young boys are being brought to court, after the investigation of the November 2007 murder of an Uzbek worker in Repino was finished in mid-July 2008. All suspects are charged with incitement of inter-ethnic hatred and hostility (Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code), and two of them, both minors, face murder charges (Paragraph 2 of Article 105).

The four boys, the investigation concluded, had planned to find and beat up somebody with a non-Slavic appearance. When after a few hours they had found no convenient victim, they headed for the train station in Repino, a town near St. Petersburg, and sat down idly on the platform. Murder was not part of the plan, according to the investigators.

It was then that the 30-year old Uzbek worker Ibrahim Parmanov descended from the train. The four boys began harassing him, and when the man tried to escape by running, the four caught up with him, brought him down, and began beating him further. One of the four boys, a minor, pulled out a knife and stabbed the man several times. His example was followed by the other minor of the group. Although the witnesses called the ambulance, the man died from blood loss.

The suspects were detained within 2-3 days, owing to the accounts of the witnesses and the images taken by a security camera from one of the nearby stores. The investigation at their home places revealed several nationalistic materials and documents taken from nationalistic websites. The suspects also had Nazi tattoos engraved on their bodies. One of the four was reported to be a skinhead, but nevertheless the investigation concluded that they were not members of a nationalistic organization.

Only three of the boys confessed, while the other - the minor who first pulled out the knife - denies involvement. The matter will be taken to court in the following days.