A 17 -year -old from the Chelyabinsk region was sentenced to almost 10 years in prison for a murder that triggered violent disturbances aimed at the local Romanis community last fall, the Russian media reported on Tuesday.
Yegor Yurchenko, who is deaf and not verbal, was arrested in October on suspicion of killing the 40 -year -old taxi driver, Hamena Sarafanova, who had been taking him home.
The murder caused disturbances in the city of Kormer, where residents attacked properties that were believed to belong to the Roman families and faced the riot police. Days later, the regional governor criticized local authorities for not avoiding violence, while federal investigators accused the issue of ignoring “Lung groups” About the alleged criminal activity of the Romaní community.
In the weeks that followed, the police made “Crime prevention” Raids in what they described as areas densely populated by people “prone to illegal activities.” The officers seized weapons and issued military draft warnings duration of the operations.
On Tuesday, Chelyabinsk Regional Court found Yurchenko guilty of murder and theft of cars and sentenced it to nine years and 10 months in prison, the Ura.ru news website reported from the courtroom.
The court also ordered Yurchenko’s family to pay 2 million rubles ($ 25,400) and 146,000 rubles ($ 1,800) in damage to the victim’s relatives. The authorities froze the bank accounts and the property of the family waiting for payment.
Yurchenko denied the charges. According to Ura.ru, he hears the glass of his defendant’s cage and make unintelligible sounds after the sentence was read through an interpreter of sign language.
In April, his parents accused his cellmates of hitting him and abusing him. Regional prison officials said medical staff had not found any injury.
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