Dagestan: trial on "Chernovik" case postponed

Today, another judicial session on charging 5 journalists of the Dagestan newspaper "Chernovik" under Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code "Kindling national, racial or religious hostility" was to take place in Makhachkala. However, as reported by the lawyer of the edition Biyakai Magomedov, it was postponed till next Monday, October 12, under joint consent of the court and prosecutor's office because of sickness of one of the defendants.

Mr Magomedov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that, in the opinion the audience, at today's session it was felt that the prosecution had no interest in this case and, by some indications, those present in the courtroom could guess that the prosecution party was not quite sure of their required outcome of the consideration.

"Now, the court has postponed the session till next Monday, October 12, at 10 a.m., because of illness of Nadira Isaeva, editor-in-chief of the 'Chernovik'. Initially, the prosecutor's office was not against holding the session today, but its representative said that what if we write a complaint that one of the defendants was absent; therefore, they also agreed to postpone the session," said the source.

The decision to postpone the hearing was made by the court in the oral form.

"We, that is, four defendants, except for Nadira Isaeva, appeared in the courtroom, and, to tell the truth, we thought that it would be possible to hold the session in her absence, because it was a preliminary hearing; but the judge said that under the law it was desirable that she was present," Biyakai Magomedov said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to his story, the court and the prosecution are now very scrupulous in relation to all procedures, since the respondents are constantly protesting against various remedial violations.