Kushchevskaya massacre trial begins for 6 in Russia
A local man pays tribute in front of a house in Kushchevskaya village in Kranodar region, southern Russia on November 20, 2010. Bandits from a local criminal group had broken into that house a few days ago, stabbed ten of the diners to death and suffocated two others in a bloodbath that lasted one-and-a-half hours.
The Kushchevskaya massacre trial began in the Russian city of Krasnodar Monday.
Six people stand accused of the November 2010 murder of 12 people, including some children, in a house in the southern village of Kushchevskaya, BBC News reported.
The victims were each stabbed, shot, or strangled, in a violent murder that "shocked all of Russia," according to BBC News.
The six accused of the murder are members of a criminal gang, and are charged with armed assault, illegal possession of weapons, rape, and damage to private property in addition to murder, the Moscow News reported.
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The gang’s leader, Sergei Tsapok, is a former local politician and businessman, according to the BBC. He has been charged with 18 counts of murder, and faces life in prison if convicted.
The other gang members who are being tried are Vyacheslav Tsepovyaz, Vladimir Alexeyev, Igor Chernykh, Vladimir Zaporozhets and Nikolai Tsapok, according to the Moscow News.
Two additional gang members committed suicide before the trial began.