At trial on case of undermining "Neva-Express" train, defendants deliver their final speeches

In the Tver Regional Court, at the trial of undermining of the "Neva-Express" train committed in 2009, the defendants declared their innocence in their final speeches.

On January 24, prosecutors demanded to sentence the four defendants Zelimkhan Aushev, Beslan, Tatarkhan, and Murad Kartoev to life imprisonment and to sentence each of the other six defendants to 15 years of imprisonment. In their turn, defenders believe that the charges have not been confirmed and that their clients are innocent. On February 2, the case was postponed due to the fact that Tatarkhan Kartoev, one of the defendants, needed the postoperative recovery (he had undergone surgery on his kidneys).

Today, oral statements of the parties were repeated. The court had to return to the stage of judicial investigation to have grounds for extending the period of keeping the defendants in custody, which had expired.

According to Musa Pliev, the lawyer of Timur Kartoev, at today's court session, eight defendants delivered their last speeches. All of them pleaded not guilty and expressed their hope to the neutrality of the court.

At present, no official comments on time of pronouncement of the verdict and the oral statements of the parties are available.