Diritti umani - Inglese

World Briefing | Europe: Russia: Ethnic Attacks on the Rise

[NYT - Europe]

The number of ethnic attacks in Russia rose sharply in the first part of this year, a Russian human rights group said. In January, February and March, 13 people were killed in ethnic attacks and 50 were wounded, Alexander Brod, the head of the group, Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, told the Interfax news agency. In the same period a year ago, two people were killed in such attacks and 30 people were wounded. People originating from former Soviet republics like Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Georgia, along with North Koreans and Africans, were the most likely to fall victim to attacks, the group said. Last month, another rights group, Sova, said the number of victims of ethnic attacks for all of 2006 had jumped 17 percent, to 539, of whom 54 died.