Religious Left

Bay Area Reporter It's been just over a year since Satendar Singh was brutally attacked at a recreation area near Sacramento, allegedly by Russian immigrants who perceived him to be gay. But without the inclusion of sexual orientation in the federal hate crimes law the man authorities believe delivered the fatal blow remains a fugitive from justice. One of those arrested, Alexsander Schevchenko, 22, was sentenced to 150 days in county jail after being found guilty on two misdemeanor charges. "Five months in jail for the murder of a man was a slap on the wrist," Sloan said of the sentence Schevchenko received. "It indicates that if you harm a gay person, chances are its not going to be costly." Sloan believes the attack - according to testimony at Schevchenko's trial and police reports, the perpetrators first sent their families home then called friends for additional back-up - "was a conspiracy and should have been prosecuted as one." Former Sacram...

KCRA 3 News SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sacramento County's district attorney won't retry a hate crime claim against a man convicted of playing a part in a fatal fight at Lake Natoma. A jury found Aleksandr Shevchenko guilty of misdemeanor assault and disturbing the peace for his role in the death of Satendar Singh. However, authorities said Andrey Vusik is believed to have struck the fatal blow that killed Singh. Shevchenko was sentenced Friday to 150 days in prison, three years probation and fined $100. full article Related Articles Other Related Article

By Crystal Carreon Sacramento Bee A mistrial was declared Wednesday in Sacramento Superior Court on hate-crime charges against a man linked to a volatile feud at Lake Natoma last summer that killed Satender Singh. After more than four days of tense deliberations, the jury of seven women and five men could not agree on whether the defendant was involved in the confrontation because he believed Singh was gay. The panel emerged before noon and told Judge Gary S. Mullen that they were "irrevocably deadlocked" on the hate- crime allegation that Aleksandr Shevchenko, 22, faced for his role in last year's fight. The Sacramento man was found guilty on two misdemeanor counts: disturbing the peace and simple assault for throwing a bottle. related stories full article

By Crystal Carreon The Sacramento Bee Over the past three weeks, jurors heard testimony in the trial of Aleksandr Shevchenko, 22. But by the end of closing statements Thursday, the circumstances that led to the punch that killed 26-year-old Satender Singh appeared just as murky and controversial as they did last July. At issue is whether Singh's death resulted from a hate crime. The jury of six men and six women also will decide whether Shevchenko should be held responsible. related articles full article

By Crystal Carreon, The Sacramento Bee In the trial of Aleksandr Shevchenko, both the prosecutor and the defense attorney reminded jurors Tuesday that the hate-crime case is about perceptions, what people saw and who did what before a punch led to the death of a Fijian man last year. Shevchenko has been charged with two felony counts of penal code 422.7 - hate crimes - for his alleged role in fracas at Lake Natoma last July that led to the death of Satender Singh. He appeared Tuesday in a black dress shirt and pressed slacks, seated next to his attorney in court. Since Singh's death, gay activists and other community groups have focused on the violence at Lake Natoma as a symbol of the tensions between gays and some members of a Slavic evangelical movement that has backed hostile, anti-gay rhetoric. But some members of the Slavic community have charged that Shevchenko is a victim of "political correctness," and that the case against him has been exaggerated. full article

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On the first day of July (2007), Satender Singh was gay-bashed to death. The 26-year-old Fijian of Indian descent was enjoying a holiday weekend outing at Lake Natoma with three married Indian couples around his age. Singh was delicate and dateless — two facts that did not go unnoticed by a party of Russian-speaking immigrants two picnic tables away. According to multiple witnesses, the men began loudly harassing Singh and his friends, calling them “7-Eleven workers” and “Sodomites.” The Slavic men bragged about belonging to a Russian evangelical church and told Singh that he should go to a “good church” like theirs. According to Singh’s friends, the harassers sent their wives and children home, then used their cell phones to summon several more Slavic men. The members of Singh’s party, which included a woman six months pregnant, became afraid and tried to leave. But the Russian-speaking men blocked them with their bodies. “We don’t want to fight you either,” one ...