"Mediazona" reveals jury's role in case of blood feud against Dagestani native

The jury twice pronounced verdicts of acquittal in the case on the murder in 2016 of Zhalalutdin Sungurov, a resident of Dagestan, and the cassation court acquitted the defendant in spite of the requests voiced by public prosecutor, the "Mediazona" reports today.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in June 2017, Magomed Abdurakhmanov, a resident of Dagestan, was charged with the murder of 59-year-old Zhalalutdin Sungurov. According to investigators, the murder was motivated by the blood feud. The investigators considered the Magomed Abdurakhmanov's guilt as proven.

When it came to the Supreme Court (SC) of Dagestan, Magomed Abdurakhmanov asked for a jury trial. On August 30, 2018, the jury found that the Magomed Abdurakhmanov's guilt in the murder motivated by blood feud had not been proven and pronounced a unanimous acquittal verdict. The defendant was released in the courtroom.

The public prosecutor doubted the jury's objectivity and filed an appeal against the verdict of acquittal to the Supreme Court (SC) of Russia. On December 20, 2018, the court cancelled the verdict and sent the case for a new consideration, which began in February 2019.

On April 11, the jury again pronounced a verdict of acquittal. The public prosecutor again filed an appeal against that court's decision. In July, the Supreme Court of Russia considered the appeal and nevertheless upheld the verdict of acquittal.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 5, 2019 at 02:11 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.