The murder case of Aslan Kambiev has been sent back for retrial.

The Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria has overturned Ruslan Kudayev's acquittal in the murder of Russian judo champion Aslan Kambiev. The case will be retried by a court of first instance.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria, which acquitted Ruslan Kudayev and recognized his right to rehabilitation in the murder of athlete Aslan Kambiev, ignored witness testimony, the widow of the deceased stated. The Fifth Court of Cassation overturned Ruslan Kudayev's acquittal in the murder of Russian sambo and judo champion Aslan Kambiev and remanded the case to the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria for a new trial. The trial court committed numerous violations, the lawyer for the deceased's family pointed out.

The Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria today reviewed the appellate case of Ruslan Kudayev, accused of murdering judoka Aslan Kambiev. Kudayev's acquittal was overturned, and the murder case was sent back to the trial court for a new trial, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reported.

The cassation court's ruling, which insisted on a review of the verdict, noted that the court failed to evaluate the testimony of one of the witnesses. The witness initially claimed not to know who had the knife or who had stabbed him, but after repeated questioning, toward the end of the preliminary investigation, he testified that he had the knife and that he had stabbed one of the participants in the conflict. The witness gave the same testimony at the court hearing.

“E. reported the crime he had committed, but no procedural decision has been made on this statement: the materials have not been separated into separate proceedings, the case has not been opened, the case has not been dismissed either for causing bodily harm or for knowingly giving false testimony, and E. was not interrogated as a suspect,” the document states.

Lawyer Anna Pogosyan, representing the interests of the injured party, expressed satisfaction with the decision.

“We hope that during the new trial, the court will approach the case more objectively and impartially and deliver a lawful and justified verdict,” she told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

The retrial of Aslan Kambiev in the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria, following the overturning of the earlier verdict by the Fifth Cassation Court, was scheduled to take place on March 3. At that time, Judge Atakuev stated that it was not possible to assemble a quorum of three judges because almost all of the Supreme Court judges were involved in the case in one way or another. Attorney Pogosyan then suggested that the court was awaiting the results of the appeal against the cassation court's ruling.