In South Ossetia, witnesses are interrogated at Margieva's trial

On April 15, a court session took place in the city of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, on the case of Fatima Margieva, an activist of the People's Party accused under Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Illegal purchase and keeping of firearms, ammunition and explosives").

At the session on April 15, the defence was represented by a lawyer from Russia Lana Khachirova; and under defendant's petition Judge Dmitri Tekhov agreed to participation in the trial of Ruslan Magkaev, a public defender from North Ossetia.

After announcement of the indictment, the parties started interrogating the witnesses. The prosecution and defence made cross-interrogation of operative agents of the KGB of the Republic of South Ossetia, the woman, who was the witness at the search, and the expert of the Ministry of Defence of South Ossetia. Later it became clear that the second witness at the search failed to appear in the courtroom; and under the insisting defence the continuation of the litigation was postponed till April 22, the "Res" Agency reports.

The consideration of Fatima Margieva's case was postponed several times because she rejected the advocate provided by the court and delayed procedure of Russian lawyer's accrediting.