Last update - 00:00 12/05/2007
Local yeshiva student stabbed to death in St. Petersburg
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent
A 22-year-old Jewish man was stabbed to death on Saturday at the entrance to his apartment in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The motive of the murder is still unclear however the local Jewish community believes that it may have been due to anti-Semitic sentiment.
If true, this would be the most severe case of anti-Semitic violence in St. Petersburg in the last few years.
Dmitri Mikolinski , a biology and yeshiva student, was murdered outside his parent's home while on his way to synagogue. His mother, who left the apartment a few minutes after him, found Mikolinski bleeding heavily after being stabbed in the neck.
Police are investigating whether a security camera installed in the building has footage of the murder.
Jews in the community told Haaretz that Mikolinski was a quiet and shy man and it is highly unlikely that he was involved with criminals.
According to the Jewish community, the manner in which Mikolinski was murdered - a stabbing in the neck - is characteristic of a group of skinheads in the city.
In the past few years, a number of foreign students and civil rights activists were murdered in St. Petersburg, apparently by neo-Nazi skinheads.
In most cases, the perpetrators were not apprehended or got off with light punishments.