Five Riga youths have admitted to vandalizing around 40 gravestones in a Jewish cemetery in September 2003, according to a January 31, 2005 report by the Baltic News Agency. The five face hate crimes charges which could result in long prison sentences. Originally, one of the defendants, a 16 year old, told police interrogators that he was a skinhead and a follower of Adolf Hitler. Now, in what may be an attempt to dodge hate crimes charges, the defendants are claiming not to be antisemites, asserting that they were under the influence of alcohol rather than ethnic hatred when they committed the crime.

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