RFE
12 Sep 2019, 17:45 GMT+10
YAKUTSK, Russia -- Three Kyrgyz nationals have received prison terms for their roles in a high-profile rape case that sparked mass protests and attacks against Central Asian labor migrants in Russia's Far Eastern region of Sakha-Yakutia in March.
One of the migrants from Kyrgyzstan was found guilty of abduction and raping a local woman and received a 14-year prison term from the court on September 11. Two other men were found guilty of holding the woman against her will, with one of them also being found guilty of rape. They were sentenced to four years and six years in prison, respectively.
The rape of the woman in the regional capital Yakutsk, about 4,900 kilometers east of Moscow, sparked mass protests by locals, who demanded the regional government expel all labor migrants who came to the region from Central Asia.
Almost all of the businesses owned by Central Asians in Yakutsk were shuttered, bus services operated by labor migrants were disrupted, and Central Asian migrants in the city were urged to stay home for their own safety for several days after the incident.
Numerous attacks against Central Asian migrants in the city were reported after some 5,000 people gathered at the Triumf sports stadium in Yakutsk on March 18 to voice their anger over the situation.
Tensions were running so high that an official delegation from Bishkek led by the deputy chief of Kyrgyzstan's Migration Service, Samat Toktobolotov, had to travel to Yakutsk to discuss the situation with Sakha-Yakutia's top officials.
Following the mass protests, Sakha-Yakutia's head, Aisen Nikolayev, signed a decree banning foreigners from working in a total of 33 sectors including trade, city transportation, food and garment production, construction, taxi services, and accounting.
Yakuts, a Turkic-speaking indigenous people, comprise about half of the vast region's population of roughly 1 million.
Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Republished with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036
Get a daily dose of Irish Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Irish Sun.
More InformationDUBAI, U.A.E.: A cargo ship flagged under Liberia, known as the Eternity C, sank in the Red Sea following an attack executed by Yemen's...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Trump administration has started sending some weapons to Ukraine again, just a week after the Pentagon told officials...
ECAULT BEACH, France: On clear days, the white cliffs of the United Kingdom, are visible from northern France, where men, women, and...
ATLANTA, Georgia: The United States is facing its worst measles outbreak in more than three decades, with 1,288 confirmed cases so...
In the past month alone, 23 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza—three more than the number of remaining living hostages held...
LONDON, U.K.: At least 13 people are believed to have taken their own lives as a result of the U.K.'s Post Office scandal, in which...
DUBLIN, Ireland: The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has issued a strong safety warning ahead of this weekend's expected...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Trump administration has started sending some weapons to Ukraine again, just a week after the Pentagon told officials...
DUBLIN, Ireland: Irish Rail incurred over 26,000 euros in damages due to a series of graffiti incidents carried out by a 24-year-old...
SLUBICE, Poland: Poland reinstated border controls with Germany and Lithuania on July 7, following Germany's earlier reintroduction...
DUBLIN, Ireland: Taoiseach Micheál Martin has expressed cautious optimism that the European Union and the United States can strike...
ZAGREB, Croatia: A massive concert by popular Croatian singer Marko Perković, known by his stage name Thompson, has drawn widespread...