A Tipp City man faces up to 10 years in prison after admitting to assaulting two Jewish Ohio State University students, including breaking one’s jaw.
Timur Mamatov, 20, pleaded guilty on Aug. 15 to a violation of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in U.S. District Court in Columbus.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Ohio, Mamatov and a friend got into an altercation with five Ohio State students on Nov. 10, 2023, outside a bar on North High Street. Court records say one of the students was wearing a “Chai” pendant, a piece of jewelry that is commonly associated with Judaism.
Court records say someone in the group of five students had yelled something at a food cart vendor after leaving the bar. While the court records do not say what was yelled, Mamatov and his friend were in the area and approached the group, asking if they had been the ones to yell.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said Mamatov was not a student at Ohio State and has no known connection to the university.
Mamatov asked each of the students individually if they were Jewish, court records say, and when they said yes, Mamatov punched one of the victims. The victim suffered a broken jaw because of the punch, according to court records. A second person’s nose was broken when the fight moved into the street, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
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The assault took place about a month after Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas which has led to an ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
After an investigation, Mamatov was charged on July 3 and entered a guilty plea on Aug. 15. He will be sentenced at a later date.
As part of his plea in the case, Mamatov will have to pay more than $780 in restitution to the victims to cover medical expenses.
The charging document filed in federal court—known as an “information”—lists the names of Acting U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of Ohio Kelly A. Norris, Assistant U.S. Attorney Noah R. Litton, trial attorney Cameron A. Bell and Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon.
“Violence against people of faith is illegal and unacceptable,” Dhillon said in a press release statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “This Department of Justice will aggressively enforce federal laws to ensure that all Americans feel safe in practicing and expressing their faith.”
Dhillon, who was confirmed to the post in April, has overseen a shift in priorities within the Justice Department’s civil rights division, including withdrawing the DOJ from police reform efforts in several U.S. cities and, as The New York Times previously reported, prioritizing investigations “into antisemitism surrounding campus protests against Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip.”
Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@gannett.com or on Bluesky at @bethanybruner.dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio man pleads guilty to hate crime for punching Jewish OSU students
