Stavropol Territory: Merekha's trial declared open

Today, the Predgorny District Court of the Stavropol Territory has ruled to make the trial on the lawsuit of Vyacheslav Merekha, who became disabled as a result, as he claims, torture and rape committed at the Predgorny ROVD (District Interior Division) in December 2010, open for the public.

On September 18, at a regular closed session on the case of Vyacheslav Merekha, the judge took an unexpected decision: "Having re-considered the motion of the defence on running the trial in the open mode, I hereby rule to satisfy the motion," Oleg Novikov, a representative of the Fund "Public Verdict", has quoted the judge.

"The judge took into account the fact that the Merekha's case had been covered by media and received a great public resonance; therefore the victim's demand to make the trial open was satisfied," he has explained and added that the judge's decision could be affected by the today's briefing for mass media, held before the session by the activists of the Fund "Public Verdict", who represent the interests of the victim, right in front of the courthouse.

"The speakers at the briefing were Vyacheslav Merekha, his relatives and his advocate Marina Dubrovina. Reporters also tried to get comments from the defendants, accused of abuse of office and inflicting grave bodily harm, former district militiamen Sergey Petrov, Nikolai Kryazhov, Vadim Akhmedov, Alexei Golovachov and their advocates, but they refused to speak and disappeared into the courthouse," said Oleg Novikov.

At today's hearing of the case, Judge Nina Turlayeva announced that she had received additional materials relating the coverage of the case by the press, the victim's advocate Marina Dubrovina has commented on the ruling.