Moscow - Shul Stabber's Verdict Annulled

Moscow - Russia's Supreme Court overturned a 13-year sentence against a man convicted of attempted murder in a knife attack on a Moscow synagogue, thereby granting the appeal filed by the Prosecutor General's office.

On March 27, Moscow City Court found Alexander Koptsev, who was 20 at the time of the attack, guilty of the ethnically and religiously motivated attempted murder of nine people at a synagogue in central Moscow on January 11, but cleared him of instigating racial hatred.
"The sentence of the Moscow City Court is quashed, and the criminal case of Koptsev will be sent for retrial at the same court but with a different composition," the court ruling said. The court ruled that Koptsev should be remanded in custody.

Koptsev's lawyers had asked the Supreme Court to reduce the 13-year prison sentence, which they said was too tough as their client suffered from a serious psychological disorder and a severe eye complaint. "Koptsev's eyesight is getting worse, and he will be absolutely blind by the time he leaves the colony in ten years," they said in court. His lawyers also said the verdict should be more lenient as Koptsev had admitted his guilt.
The Moscow Prosecutor's Office and lawyers for the injured parties had appealed the decision, to try again to charge him of ethnic incitement.