Krasnodar court decides to consider Dzhemilev's case with a jury

The Krasnodar Regional Court has ruled to consider the criminal case of Khaiser Dzhemilev, the son of Mustafa Dzhemilev, an MP of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the former head of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, by means of a jury. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 3.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Khaiser Dzhemilev is accused of a murder of hooliganism. According to investigators, on May 27, 2013, he shot dead the 44-year-old Fevzi Edemov from his father's rifle. Khaiser Dzhemilev was detained in Bakhchisarai and convoyed from the Crimea to the Krasnodar Territory.

On Tuesday, February 24, the court granted the defence's motion on considering the criminal case by a panel of jurymen. According to Nikolai Polozov, the defendant's advocate, the jury may take into account a number of mitigating circumstances.

According to the defence, Dzhemilev-junior pleads guilty of a theft and possession of the firearm, but refuses to plead guilty of killing a man, the "Interfax" reports.

"Our position is that it was a murder by negligence," said the advocate. He reminded that this is how the crime was qualified by Ukrainian investigators.

He is confident that the Dzhemilev's case is politicized. "The position of Dzhemilev-senior after the incorporation of the Crimea has influenced his son's case," the RIA "Novosti" reports.

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