22:48, 4 December 2006

Both prosecution and defence appeal against Stomakhin's verdict

A five-year deprivation of freedom sentence passed to Boris Stomakhin, author of the "Kavkaz-Tsentr" separatists' web site and co-chairman of the Revolutionary Contact Association, was appealed against at the Moscow City Court both by defence and prosecution, Karen Nersesyan, his advocate, told the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot." The defence demands a complete acquittal of the journalist. On the contrary, the prosecutor's office finds the verdict too lenient - at the trial it claimed seven years of custody for Mr. Stomakhin.

The advocate of the supporter of the Chechen armed underground movement was told that the sentence would be appealed against also by the prosecution at the Butyrskiy District Court of Moscow, which pled Stomakhin guilty on November 20 of instigating national and religious hatred and appeals to extremism, committed publicly through the use of mass media.

Author: Vyacheslav Feraposhkin, CK correspondent