Killers of Congolese student in Russia get 7-14 years in jail

A court in St. Petersburg has sentenced four men convicted of murdering a Congolese student in September 2005 to between seven and 14 years in prison.

Rolan Epossaca, a 29-year-old student at the St. Petersburg Forestry Academy, died in hospital after being violently beaten and stabbed several times.

The court sentenced two of the defendants to nine years in a high-security prison, one to seven years, and the other to 14 years in prison.

"Considering the gravity of the crime and its consequences for society, and after the jury found the suspects did not deserve any leniency, the only possible punishment is their incarceration from society," the presiding judge said.

The jury delivered a guilty verdict ruling the murder was racially motivated.

Defense lawyers said they would contest the decision in the Supreme Court.

Last July, a jury handed a not guilty verdict to the four men, but the Supreme Court later dismissed the acquittal.

Routine attacks by skinheads and youth gangs on foreigners and people with non-Slavic features have been reported across Russia in recent years. But authorities have been generally reluctant to treat the attacks as race-hate crimes, portraying them instead as acts of hooliganism.

sections: Society