15:13, 30 April 2004

Prosecutor to appeal acquittal of servicemen charged with killing civilians in Chechnya

The public prosecutor will appeal against the verdict of not guilty returned by the jury in the case of Captain Eduard Ulman and his subordinates in the North Caucasian District Court Martial in Rostov-on-Don on April 29.

The statement by Russian Deputy Prosecutor General, Chief Military Prosecutor Colonel-General of Justice Aleksandr Savenkov, the text of which was received by the Interfax agency on the night of April 30, reads: "It has been proved unconditionally that the killed citizens of Russia (Editor's note: There were six civilians in the car shot down in the Shatoy district of Chechnya on January 11, 2002.) did not belong to illegal armed units and the servicemen had enough time and opportunities to make sure of it. Nevertheless all the six were killed, and the defendants themselves, Ulman and his subordinates - Kalagansky and Voevodin, do not deny it."

In spite of the evidence and validity of the crime, the jury found all the defendants to be not guilty, stated the colonel-general.

Editors note: See also the article "Russian special operations soldiers accused of murdering civilians in Chechnya, jury to return verdict".

Source: Interfax News Agency