They were all accused of inciting ethnic violence in the Karelian town of Kondopoga in August 2006, as previously reported by BarentsObserver.
The April 1st verdict by the Supreme Court in Karelia might put an end to the court cases following the interethnic violence that started when two local residents were killed and five others injured in a restaurant brawl with ethnic Chechens four years ago. In the following days after the restaurant fight a large scale interethnic violence broke out in the streets of Kondopoga.
Read also: Kondopoga investigation completed
Radio Free Europe reports that the main defendant in the case, Islam Magomadov, was sentenced to 22 years in jail while the other four received prison terms of between three and 10 years.
