MOSCOW: Russia yesterday detained an Azerbaijani citizen suspected of stabbing to death a Muscovite in an attack that sparked some of the country’s worst anti-migrant riots in years. The suspected killer was detained just outside Moscow and was being sent for questioning by the Investigative Committee, a body similar to the FBI which oversees major criminal probes, a police spokesman told AFP.
Police and investigators identified the suspect as Orkhan Zeinalov, a 30-year-old native of Azerbaijan.
Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said Zeinalov had lived in Russia for the past 10 years and made a living by driving a gypsy cab.
“It is known that he is quick-tempered and aggressive, abuses alcohol and does not have a permanent place of residence in Moscow,” Markin said in a statement.
Thousands rioted in southern Moscow on Sunday over the killing several days earlier of 25-year-old local man Yegor Shcherbakov, who was stabbed to death in front of his girlfriend.
The killer fled the scene but images caught on surveillance cameras suggested he could have been from Central Asia or the Caucasus.
After a largely peaceful protest on Saturday, the rioting erupted on Sunday when protesters attacked a wholesale vegetable market where they thought the suspected killer was hiding.
After the weekend riots, investigators combed the market, with Markin saying the search has exposed “crude violations of migration, labour and administrative legislation” at the market.
AFP
