Tikhomirov, figurant of BORN case, states his innocence

Today, Maxim Baklagin, Vyacheslav Isaev, Mikhail Volkov and Yuri Tikhomirov, the defendants in the case of the "Combat Organization of Russian Nationalists" (known as BORN), announced their last plea; and Yuri Tikhomirov declared his complete innocence.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the above defendants were charged with involvement in the murders of the lawyer Stanislav Markelov and the journalist Anastasia Baburova, the Judge Eduard Chuvashov, antifascists Fyodor Filatov, Ivan Khutorskoy and Ilya Djaparidze, as well as of Rasul Khalilov, a figurant in the "Black Hawks" case, the athlete Muslim Abdullaev and the taxi driver Sosa Khachikyan.

In his last plea, Maxim Baklagin said that he had sincerely repented of his crimes. "Never and nobody shall be allowed killing," he said, adding that his actions were affected "by military actions in the Caucasus."

Vyacheslav Isaev has confirmed that he was a member of the BORN and Russian nationalist; however, he negated the ideological component of the murders, and added that the murder of the athlete Muslim Abdullaev was triggered by "the lawlessness of Caucasians."

Mikhail Volkov has urged the jurymen to assess not only the crimes committed by the members of the BORN, but also "the actions of the victims", which had caused the murders.

The defendant Yuri Tikhomirov has insisted on his innocence. "I am not guilty of these crimes. They tried to image me as a nationalist, almost fascist. Isaev and Baklagin slandered me in their testimonies," he said, concluding that the defendants' testimonies and other facts "are not so clean" in the case.

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