Russia expels Azeri witnesses in riot case-ethnic leader

The two men are among the main witnesses in an investigation into a fight which broke out in a restaurant in Kondopoga last September between Russians and Chechens, triggering mass street protests.

The regional prosecutor's office dismissed the allegation made by Makhmet Matiyev, head of the local Chechen and Ingush society, saying it could not explain why the two men, identified only as Mamedov and Sadygov, did not show up at a Feb. 2 court hearing.

The unrest marked one of the most prominent outbreaks of race violence in the country. Two Russians were killed and much of the Chechen community had to flee the town near the Finnish border.

Matiyev said investigators were guilty of prejudice against ethnic minorities. Prosecutors have accused two Russians of starting the fight.

"Security authorities made them (the Azeris) leave so that the truth is never found out," Matiyev told Reuters.

"The investigation is one-sided. Only witnesses from one side are being called up, but from the other side there are no witnesses."

A spokeswoman for the prosecutors' office said there was no foundation in his claim.

"Everything is normal," Tatiana Kordyukova said. "I cannot account for every person questioned and for reasons for their absence."

Matiyev said prejudice was still rife against Chechens after years of separatist violence in the Caucasus province and a string of extremist attacks across Russia, and suggested prosecutors sought to clear the Russian defendants.

The two Azeris witnesses could not be reached for comment.

Matiyev said police had removed CCTV footage from the restaurant which recorded the fight and had not returned it, and said police told the two Azeris to leave a few days after the brawl because they worked there without proper documents.

He said: "They had been living like that before but until the Kondopoga events no one forced them out." Reuters