Suspect In Koran Burning In Russia Sent To Pre-Trial Detention

A YouTube screen shot from a video apparently showing soccer fans burning a copy of the Koran while ordering a frightened young man to "denounce Allah."

A court in Moscow has sent a man suspected of burning the Koran to pre-trial detention until at least March 9.

Aleksandr Sokolov, 23, from the Russian city of Tver, confessed in the courtroom on January 16 that he was one of the men appearing in a video on the Internet that shows individuals burning a Russian translation of the Koran while cursing the Muslim holy book.

The video also carried the same men's voices demanding that a frightened young man on a Moscow subway train "denounce Allah."

The man appeared to have just been beaten.

Moscow police said last week that a special investigative unit has been established to identify those behind the video.

Sokolov has a criminal record.

He was detained on January 15 and charged with hooliganism.

Based on reporting by RIA Novosti and ITAR-TASS