Nineteen members of a Russian neo-Nazi group were charged with vandalizing Jewish and Muslim cemeteries. Prosecutors in Tver, a city of more than 400,000 about 140 miles from Moscow, also charged members of the group Russian National Unity with murder motivated by ethnic hatred and assault, according to a report Monday by the Russian Jewish Web site Jewish.ru. On Aug. 5, 2005, the suspects allegedly desecrated approximately 50 Jewish gravestones at the Dmitrovo-Cherkassy cemetery, and in October 2006 they allegedly damaged and painted swastikas on some 200 Jewish and Muslim gravestones at the Pervomayskoe and Dmitrovo-Cherkassy cemeteries. The suspects left leaflets calling for the murder of non-Russians, Jewish.ru reported. The report had no details about the other charges.
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