Defence of Chechen native convicted in Pugachov intends to appeal against the verdict

The advocate of the 17-year-old native of Chechnya, who was convicted on charges of committing a resonant murder of Ruslan Marzhanov, a resident of the city of Pugachov, Saratov Region, announced his intention to appeal against the verdict. In his opinion, the commission of the murder by his client was not proved at the trial. Relatives of the defendant treat the trial as politicized.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 6, 2013, in Pugachov, near the cafe "Golden Barrel", in a fight the 20-year-old former soldier Ruslan Marzhanov was killed. On December 19, 2014, the suspected teenager from Chechnya was sentenced to 9.5 years in prison.

According to Igor Burlakov, the teen's advocate, the defence is outraged at the size of material payments to the suffered party. Thus, the court awarded the compensation of moral harm in the amount of one million roubles, payment for lawyers' services in the amount of 600,000 roubles, and reimbursement of funeral expenses.

On October 14, the advocate asked to transfer the case from the Pugachov District Court to any district court of the region, because, as he claimed, the case had great resonance and "the Pugachov court cannot pass a fair sentence." However, the judge rejected the petition, writes the "Komsomolskaya Pravda-Saratov".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that after the murder of Marzhanov, Pugachov saw spontaneous protests demanding to deport the natives of Chechnya. July 10, 2013, Mikhail Babich, the presidential envoy to the Volga Federal District, said that the Chechen Diaspora took away a part of young people out of the town.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.