For only the second time in Ukraine's post-Soviet history, a court sentenced defendants to prison for a hate crime, according to UCSJ's Kiev monitor Vyacheslav Likhachyov. On April 17, the Darnitsky district court in Kiev ended the trial of four suspects accused of murdering a Nigerian citizen last October. Godknows Mievi, a 44 year old man who lived for many years in Ukraine, was killed on the evening of October 25, 2006 near the Poznyaki metro station. Eyewitnesses reported that the attackers shouted racist slogans. Mr. Mievi, who is survived by a Ukrainian wife and a son, died of knife wounds before police arrived. He had a Ph.D. and worked for an oil company in the city.

The judge found one suspect guilty of first degree murder and incitement of ethnic hatred and sentenced him to 11 years in prison. A second defendant, a young woman, was convicted solely of ethnic incitement and got four and a half years. A third defendant avoided prison through and an amnesty, while another was treated as a witness.

Despite a rising number of attacks on ethnic minorities in Ukraine, until last week, there had been only one successful hate crimes prosecution in Ukraine, and even in that case (the trial of several neo-Nazis who attacked a synagogue in Kiev while screaming "Death to the Yids!"), the chief organizer of the assault was let out of prison early.

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