A second man has been detained on suspicion of killing three migrant workers from Uzbekistan and burning their bodies in the Krasnodar region, investigators said Monday.
Police said over the weekend that two men from the village of Nizhne-Bakanskaya had killed the migrants on June 24 after a drunken brawl at a cafe. Although the Uzbek men, aged 24, 30 and 41, ran away from the Tequila Boom cafe, the suspected killers caught and tied up one of them, prompting the other two to return. Their burned bodies were later found in a quarry.
Krasnodar investigators said Monday that a second suspected killer had been detained and had confessed to stabbing and shooting the migrant workers and burning their bodies. Investigators said police are looking for a third local resident suspected of helping the other two. They did not specify the third man's suspected role in the killing.
Millions of migrant workers from impoverished ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia have come to Russia since the early 2000s, despite widespread xenophobia and frequent hate crimes.
Some Russians accuse Central Asians — along with natives of Russia's Caucasus region — of taking their jobs, forming ethnic gangs and disrespecting Russian traditions.
Human rights groups and diaspora leaders say Russian employers, officials and police routinely abuse migrant workers by delaying or withholding their pay, extorting bribes and subjecting them to violence, humiliation and other forms of abuse.