RIGA - The Riga Regional Court will this week hear a criminal case over a physical assault on two Sri Lankan students, which took place in Riga in January.
The hearing was initially scheduled for late October, but had to be put off because the victims and witnesses failed to appear before the court.
The defendant is a 17-year-old girl, Agnese Petersone. She has been charged with actions intentionally aimed at instigating ethnic or racial hatred or intolerance and involving violence, fraud or threats. Such crimes carry a jail term of up to 10 years.
The girl has been released pending the trial. The court plans to hold a open hearing in her case.
The Latvian Security Police earlier told BNS that the girl was tied to some skinhead group.
A male student from Sri Lanka and his sister were attacked in Riga on January 12 this year. Two young women accosted the Sri Lankans as they were coming out of a supermarket, and verbal abuse was followed by physical assault. But the pre-trial investigation established that the other girl had not participated in the crime.
The new hearing date is scheduled for Dec. 21.
