Man arrested over Russian murder

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BBC

Russian police say they have arrested a man in connection with the murder of a Senegalese student in St Petersburg, according to local media.
Samba Lamsar, 28, was shot dead leaving a nightclub in what police believe was a racially-motivated attack.

A shotgun emblazoned with a swastika was found near the scene. Hundreds of students took to the streets to protest over the killing.

Police said on Monday they were holding a 28-year-old man over the attack.

Senegalese diplomats have lodged a formal complaint with Moscow over the shooting.

Samba Lamsar had been studying in St Petersburg's telecommunications institute.

His shooting on Friday is being investigated by officials from the Russian interior ministry.

Earlier attacks

The murder comes amid a growing wave of racist and ultra-nationalist attacks against foreigners and non-whites, most of which have taken place in Moscow and St Petersburg.

On 25 March, a nine-year-old girl of Russian and Malian parentage was seriously injured in a stabbing, which prosecutors believe was racially-motivated.

Last month a St Petersburg court found a teenager not guilty of the murder of a nine-year-old Tajik girl in 2004. The teenager was instead convicted of hooliganism, and sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison.

Six other teenagers received lesser sentences in connection with the girl's death.

In December, a Cameroonian student was stabbed to death and a Kenyan national was wounded in attacks across St Petersburg.

According to figures from the Moscow Bureau of Human Rights, there were 25 fatal racial attacks in Russia in 2005.

Oh... Joy.