14:45, 27 January 2014

At the trial of Politkovskaya's murder five jurors excluded

The Moscow City Court. Photo: http://www.allcourts.ru/

At the trial dealing with the murder of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, five members were excluded from the jury. This was announced at the first session on the merits on Monday at the Moscow City Court.

Judge Pavel Melekhin told the audience that five jurors – three of the basic staff and two substitutes – failed to appear in court. Ultimately, the court decided to exclude them from the trial and replace them with substitutes. The lawyer Murad Musaev insisted on finding the reasons of absenteeism, alluding to possible "pressure on them."

The "Caucasian Knot" wrote that the current jury was formed on January 14, since in November 2013 the previous one was disbanded because of the absence of the majority of its members.

The session has also listened to the opening words of the prosecutors and advocates. In the version of state prosecutors, the murder motive was in Politkovskaya's human rights articles. The prosecutors said that, according to the investigation, the performers of the murder received 150,000 US dollars.

In its turn, the defence once again stressed that the defendants refuse to plead guilty.

Author: Yuliya Buslavskaya

Source: CK correspondent