23:00, 19 May 2009

Consideration of arrest petition of advocate Boris Kuznetsov delayed for the third time

The Zamoskvoretskiy Court of Moscow has postponed till May 25 the consideration of the petition lodged by the investigation on arrest in absentia of lawyer Boris Kuznetsov, who was once representing the interests of Levon Chakhmakhchyan, ex-senator from Kalmykia, sentenced to nine years of imprisonment.

This time, the defence asked to postpone the sitting also because one of four Kuznetsov's advocate could not appear in the courtroom because of illness. Besides, the consideration of case, which earlier was under Judge Natalia Ivanova, has been transferred to Igor Sheremetyev, chair of the Zamoskvoretskiy Court, as reported by the "Pravo.Ru" Agency.

Also, the advocates have lodged additional objections against the petition of investigation on arrest in absentia and on requesting additional materials from the bodies of preliminary investigation.

As reported by the "Echo Moskvy" Radio, at the previous sitting on May 6 one Kuznetsov's defenders asked the Court to add Kuznetsov's correspondence with the General Prosecutor's Office to the materials of the criminal case.