Trial of Geriev interrupted after withdrawal of panel of judges

The today's session of the court in Chechnya, which considers the complaint against the verdict to Zhalaudi Geriev, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, started with a petition to disqualify the presiding judge, whom the advocate Alaudi Musaev accused of lying. After the petition was rejected, the advocate again demanded to disqualify the whole panel of judges.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 15 the Supreme Court (SC) of the Chechen Republic began considering the complaint against the verdict to Zhalaudi Geriev, imposed by the Shali District Court on September 5. At the session on December 7, the court added to the case files the advocate's questioning of four witnesses of Geriev's kidnapping. The defence tried three times to disqualify the panel of judges, stating that the judges were interested in the conviction. The court rejected all the petitions.

Today, the advocate Musaev tried to disqualify the panel of judges. One of the judges turned to the presiding judge and asked to stop Musaev. The advocate began resenting, saying that the court should be more respectful to the participants in the trial.

Then, the judge, who had asked to stop the advocate, left the courtroom and asked to announce a break. Finally, a break was announced until 3:00 p.m. Moscow time.

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