Murat Yunusov: recent explosion of "Neva-Express" train has no effect on the 2007 terror act case

The terror act against the "Neva-Express" train, committed on November 27, made no effect on the case about a similar episode in 2007. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by Murat Yunusov, the lawyer for the defendants in the case of the explosion of the same train committed two years ago.

"Has the recent accident of the 'Neva-Express' train affected the 2007 case? It's hard to say for sure. In my opinion, it had no effect. The indictment in the 2007 case has 20 pages. After the new accident, it grew neither longer nor smaller," said Mr Yunusov.

The "Caucasian Knot" wrote that the wreck of train No. 166 Moscow - St Petersburg ("Neva-Express" train) took place on August 13, 2007, in Burga-Malaya Vishera railway section of the Oktiabrsk Railways. As a result of that accident, 60 passengers suffered, over 30 were hospitalized.

In the opinion of Dmitri Berkut, a former employee of a special unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the version of involvement of "Caucasian terrorists" to the recent explosion of the "Neva-Express" train, which appeared in mass media prior to official comments, breaks the presumption of innocence.

"I remember an episode in one of the cities not far from Moscow, when a grenade exploded in the marketplace. Then, all the militia was on alert, OMON fighters ran around the city catching all the persons of the "Caucasian nationality". Later, it became clear that Caucasians had nothing to do with that explosion at all. The point was in division of the market territory," Dmitri Berkut told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

In his opinion, the recent events look like "kindling of public hatred" in the proper direction.