African Slain in Russia in Apparent Hate Crime
An African student was stabbed to death and another was seriously wounded in separate attacks that Russian prosecutors called apparent hate crimes.
The students were assaulted on the same street as they walked from the subway to their dormitory Saturday night, law-enforcement officials and a student group said Sunday.
In the first incident, attackers slashed a student who managed to escape, said Aliu Dumkara, head of African Unity, a group for African students in St. Petersburg. He said the student was either from Zambia or Kenya. About two hours later, a Cameroonian student was stabbed and killed, Dumkara said.
Police offered few details; no arrests have been made.
The victims were studying at St. Petersburg’s Water Transport University.
Russia has seen a rise in racially motivated attacks on foreigners in recent years. A spokeswoman for the city prosecutor’s office said racism was the most probable motive, Russian news agencies reported.
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