DDHK News, Russia - Moscow police have arrested a 23-year-old man who allegedly burned the Koran and attacked Muslims in retaliation for the recent suicide bombings in Volgograd, a city in southern Russia.
A police spokesman said Wednesday the man had been identified as a resident of the Tver area who previously had a criminal record, including theft and robbery.
The suspect has been held for 48 hours, so far on hooliganism charges, said a local police spokesman quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.
The hunt for the alleged Al-Quran burner began last week after a video posted on YouTube showed a group of youths burning a translation of the Quran in Russian.
The video also shows a man in Central Asian appearance with bruises on his face, who is forced to repeat what people behind the camera are shouting: "I left God".
The video appears with the text linking the burning of the Koran to a suicide bomb attack in the southern Russian city of Volgograd.
Two consecutive multi-day attacks in late December killed 34 people at Volgograd's main train terminal and trolleybus. Six others died in October when a woman blew herself up on a commuter bus.
Militants in neighboring North Caucasus have been blamed for the attacks.
Russia's radical nationalist groups are often accused of extremism or fanning religious hatred, each of which can be punished with up to four to five years. (AMONG).*
