Russian man sentenced to 8 years in prison for murdering student from Gabon

A court in the Russian Urals city of Yekaterinburg has sentenced a man to eight years in prison for the murder of an African post-graduate student, local Telegram news channel Vechernie Vedomosti reported on Monday.

Daniil Fomin, 23, was found guilty of murdering François Njelassili, from Gabon, who was pursuing a doctorate in economics at the city’s Ural Federal University. The court did not, however, classify the crime as racially motivated. The prosecutor had requested a sentence of 11 years.

Njelassili was murdered on 18 August 2023 in central Yekaterinburg while he and his friends were eating at a Burger King. According to witnesses, two men approached him and said, “Look, a black man, let’s cut him,” before stabbing him in the armpit and fleeing the scene. Njelassili died from his injuries.

In court, a friend of the victim, Solomon Fuad Kifele, said that the incident had started when Njelassili began to flirt with a woman who was with Fomin and his friend, Nikolay Lebedkin. Lebedkin reportedly said, “You’re black. What are you doing here? Why are you coming on to our girls?” and attacked him. Fomin then stepped in and delivered the fatal stab wound.

Anti-fascist movement Antifa.ru said members of a neo-Nazi forum on social media platform VK had crowd-sourced the money to pay for Fomin’s legal representation.

Traffic police officers who happened to be nearby witnessed the murder, but initially ignored the altercation and only intervened when asked for help. They have since been dismissed and an investigation has been opened into their potential misconduct.