ST. PETERSBURG, August 15 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – A criminal case against a neo-Nazi gang standing charged with robbery, banditry, intended infliction of grievous bodily harm, murder on race, ethnical or religious hatred or enmity grounds, will be heard by jury, the St. Petersburg City Court’s spokesperson Darya Lebedeva told RAPSI on Monday.

Jury selection will begin on September 12.

Nineteen persons, fourteen of whom were underage when allegedly committing the aforesaid crimes, are charged on 36 counts, among which alongside murders are six counts of grievous bodily harm, three counts of banditry, three counts of robbery, and setting fire to a church.

At present, all the accused remain in custody.

The alleged gang leader, an ethnic Arab born in St. Petersburg, changed his name given at birth into a Russian one due to his racist and nationalist beliefs in 2002, and as investigators allege, in 2012 established a criminal gang ensnaring his acquaintances, including underage school and college students, who shared his beliefs, in order to commit crimes involving violence and violation of national and human dignity of people native to Caucasus and Asia.