Khursheda Sultonova was stabbed to death in St. Petersburg in February 2004.
"We are still certain that the defendant is guilty, we think his guilt was proven and we will appeal against the decision," public prosecutor Svetlana Yefimenko said. "However, we must wait until the end of the process and study the minutes first."
The jury cleared the main defendant of murder charges and convicted him of robbery and hooliganism. Six others were found guilty of hooliganism, and another was cleared of all charges.
The defendants, whose names have not been released for legal reasons, were mostly teenagers at the time of the brutal attack, which is widely seen as one of the worst racially motivated crimes in Russia. Only one was charged with the murder, whereas the others were charged with assaulting Khursheda, her father and 11-year-old cousin.
A lawyer representing the victim's family, Natella Ponomareva, said the jury had decided that the real murderers were still at large. The investigation into the attack established that 11 people had taken part in the assault.
