Savage Attack on Guest Workers from Tadjikistan near Moscow

On December 5, 2008 in the village Zhabkino (Moscow region), two neo-Nazis attacked two migrant workers from Tadjikistan. One of them, 20 year-old Azizov, was murdered and beheaded.

The workers, aged 20 and 22, were on their way home from a vegetable warehouse where they had worked as loaders. The way home passed through a grove, and just as the men entered, somebody started to shoot at them with an automatic gun. One of the victimsn was wounded and then fled. He was hospitalized and told the Azizov's brother about the incident.

Later, the beheaded body of the other victim, with six other knife wounds, was found in the area of the attack as well as no signs of robbery.

According to one survivor, both of the attackers were of Slavic appearance.

On December 8, the SOVA Center, the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights and the "Komsomolskaya Pravda" newspaper received an e-mail with an attached photo of the severed head. The sender, the so-called "Militant Organization of Russian Nationalists" (unknown before the incident), took responsibility for the murder of the Tajiki worker and claimed that the head had been secretly placed at "Mozhajsky" district town council building. The letter contained threats not only against other migrant workers, but also against officials. The information spread by some media outlers that Human Rights Watch also received such an e-mail was not correct.

On December 10, local people of the district "Mozhajsky" indeed found a head of a man of "Asian appearance" in a dumpster situated near the building of the district town council.

It was in the "Mozhajsky" district, where on October 1, 2008, the body of 15 year-old Anna Beshnova was found. A migrant from Uzbekistan is suspected of raping and murdering her. The case attracted public attention and by manifestations of right-wing organizations.