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Skinhead Gang Jailed

Moscow City Court sentenced four ultranationalists to lengthy prison terms and given heavy fines for a string of ethnic hate crimes, RIA-Novosti reported Thursday.

Andrei Gordeyev, Konstantin Kucher and Vladislav Polyakov, all 19, were given 10, 13 and nine years in a maximum-security prison, respectively. Anton Vasilyev, 23, will serve a 22-year term.

Their lawyers promised to appeal.

A jury convicted the four last month of staging four blasts and 11 counts of attempted murder in Moscow, while clearing them for four counts of murder.

The convicts, described by Interfax as a "gang of skinheads," will also be fined a combined 1.2 million rubles ($42,000).

The suspects attacked foreigners, including citizens of Azerbaijan, Cameroon, China, Kazakhstan, Korea and Uzbekistan, between 2008 and 2009, the report said.


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