Russia Profile – Culture & Living – It Takes a Murder

The recent murder of a prominent Muslim activist has sent ripples of fear throughout Moscow’s Muslim community, offering a reminder that Russia remains plagued by ethnically motivated killings. Yet the slaying reveals several, perhaps borderline optimistic, forecasts for minority life in Moscow. Observers point to the marked decrease in hate crime, a result of better police work, and the outpouring of public grief, matched by the authorities’ sympathy, as signs that ethnic tensions in Russia may be less grim than they often seem.

Metin Mekhtiyev, a 33-year-old former manager at Moscow’s Islamic Cultural Center, was found stabbed to death early last week near the Belorussky train station, his face and neck brutally slashed. Investigators are treating the murder as a standard mugging, citing his stolen money and cell phone, yet Mekhtiyev’s friends and former colleagues disagree. They say Mekhtiyev’s was a clear-cut, ethnically motivated murder that bore all the hallmarks of a hate crime committed by ultranationalists.

via Russia Profile – Culture & Living – It Takes a Murder.

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