Trial on Anna Politkovskaya's murder suspended till December 17

The judicial process on the murder of observer of the "Novaya Gazeta" Anna Politkovskaya has announced a break till December 17. Today, at the Moscow Regional Military Court, the defence has started presenting evidences of the defendants' innocence.

On December 11, the prosecutor's office finished presenting evidences on "Politkovskaya's case". Then, Anna Stavitskaya who is representing the victims announced that the suffered would not present their proofs at the session on December 15, as all the materials are in the criminal case files.

Today, an episode was considered related to kidnapping, beating and murder attempt of businessman Eduard Ponikarov. One of the figurants of Anna Politkovskaya's murder case - former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) Sergey Hadzhikurbanov - and former FSB officer Pavel Ryaguzov are accused of committing these crimes. However, since not all the defence witnesses have appeared in the courtroom, the court has finished today's hearing ahead of time, as the "Novaya Gazeta" reports.

Valery Chernikov, Pavel Ryaguzov's advocate, believes that "today's session has demonstrated to what extent the arguments of the suffered party are inconsistent", the ITAR-TASS reports.

It has also become known today another criminal case was initiated against one the accused of Politkovskaya's murder - Sergey Hadzhikurbanov. "One more criminal case has been opened against Hadzhikurbanov - under Article 163 ("Extortion")," the "Interfax" quotes his advocate Andrei Litvin as saying.

Mr Litvin has added that the new criminal case "has nothing to do" with Politkovskaya's murder.