Preliminary hearing on murder of anti-fascist Ilya Dzhaparidze held in Moscow

The Moscow City Court will consider the murder case of anti-fascist Ilya Dzhaparidze by means of a jury. It was decided on May 24 at the preliminary hearing on the case.

Dzhaparidze was killed on June 28, 2009, on the eve of the match, where he was going to hold an anti-fascist action by hanging the banner "Football Against Racism". In November 2009, Yuri Tikhomirov, 24, a resident of Dubna, a city near Moscow, was detained on suspicion of committing the murder under the motive of ethnic hatred.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by the press service of the Moscow City Court that in the course of the session the defence had petitioned to hear the case by a jury; the petition was satisfied; and selection of jurymen will start on June 22; and will take place behind closed doors.

"At the request of the prosecution, Tikhomirov's custody was extended till November 13, 2011. His trial will be open," explained the court spokeswoman.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Tikhomirov's advocate Alexander Vasiliev, his client had not been earlier acquainted with Dzhaparidze; they had no business in common.

"The whole case consists of this sort of 'exaggerations'. The proofs that Tikhomirov had committed this crime are in his own confession and in identification of him by some 'classified' witness, who described the killer, before Tikhomirov's detention, as a girl. That is, the witness had first described a girl, and then he identified Tikhomirov," lawyer Vasiliev gave details of the case.

According to his story, Yuri Tikhomirov is now in the SIZO (pre-trial prison) "Matrosskaya Tishina". "Another resident of Dubna named Bakladin has been put on the search list in relation to this case," added the defender.