17:49, 24 July 2013

Moscow: defendants in Politkovskaya's murder case state their innocence

The consideration of the murder case of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya began on July 24 at the Moscow City Court. All five defendants pled not guilty.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 23 the court selected 12 main and 10 reserve jurors to hear the case. The victims in the case did not participate in the selection and announced that they refuse to participate in the process, because it is illegitimate.

Five persons, namely, the Chechen businessman Lom-Ali Gaitukaev, treated by investigators as the organizer of the crime, three of his nephews and the former militiaman Sergey Khadjikurbanov are accused of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, the author of articles on Chechnya and Northern Caucasus, committed on October 7, 2006.

After the announcement of the indictment by the public prosecutor, each of the defendants rejected the charges and stated his complete innocence, the ITAR-TASS reports.

In his turn, Murad Musaev, the defendants' lawyer, stated position of the defence, according to which Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, the ex-chief of the Moscow Operative-Search Department, was the organizer of the murder, while his former subordinates performed it.

The next session will be held on July 25.