Defendants in Politkovskaya's murder case refuse to testify in court

On April 7, at the Moscow City Court (MCC), the defendants in the murder case of the observer of the "Novaya Gazeta" Anna Politkovskaya refused to testify, despite the fact that earlier they promised to narrate their own version of events to the court.

In the context of the defendants' refusal to testify, the defence lawyers moved a petition to read out the minutes of the court sessions at the Moscow District Military Court. The petition referred to interrogation reports of Djabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov and Sergey Khadjikurbanov, in which the Makhmudovs reported about the blue-green VAZ -2104 car (according to investigators, in this car the alleged gunmen fled from the scene of the murder, – note of the "Caucasian Knot"). Besides, it was announced in the courtroom that "the car was revealed to the investigation team by Ibragim Makhmudov."

"Djabrail Makhmudov said that he had read Politkovskaya's articles, when he wrote a work on refugees; he highly respected her as a noble journalist. He had nothing to do with her murder; and he received no money from anyone," Murad Musaev, his advocate, read out the document.

Then, Musaev read out some documents relating to the defendant Ibragim Makhmudov, in which he categorically denied his participation in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya and said that "he knew that she was a good person."