19:00, 18 February 2009

At trial on Nalchik attack, prosecution wants to have judges instead of jurymen

Today, at the hearing on the case about the attack on power agencies of Kabardino-Balkaria, which resumed after a two-month break, the prosecution moved a petition that the case should be considered by three professional judges.

The prosecution referred to the law recently passed by the State Duma, according to which cases on terrorism and other anti-state crimes cannot be considered by juries.

The defence took time till Friday to formulate its position. It became known to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the defence would insist on the process with a jury.

Making her comments on the prosecution's petition, advocate Tatiana Khamukova called it "unconstitutional."

"The procedure for consideration of this case had been defined long ago, during the investigation, when the majority of defendants spoke in support of a jurymen panel. Then, nobody even heard about this sort of legislation. It was adopted much later, and the law, as we know, has no retroaction," said Ms Khamukova.

Author: Luiza Orazaeva

Source: CK correspondent