Advocates in attack-on-Nalchik case appeal against cancellation of juries

A group of advocates involved in the case about the attack on power bodies of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) in October 2005 have sent a cassation complaint to the Supreme Court of Russia against the decision of the KBR's Supreme Court to cancel the jury. The lawyers ask to cancel the decision because it worsens the status of defendants, which is forbidden by the laws of the Russian Federation (RF).

The complaint notes, in particular, that the Law "On Amending Certain RF's Acts on Counteracting Terrorism" entered its force on January 11, 2009, since it was first published in the "Rossijskaya Gazeta" on December 30, 2008.

At the same time, as the lawyers remark, the decision of the KBR's Supreme Court to consider the case by a jury was made on March 25, 2008, when the old wording of the Code of Criminal Procedure was in force.

Making comments on the situation, Elena Bairamkulova, a lawyer of the KBR's Bar, has explained: "In order to satisfy the claim of the prosecution group, it was necessary to cancel this enacted decision, which would worsen the state of defendants; and this is forbidden by the law and the RF's Constitution. Therefore, the action of the invalidated criminal-procedural law shall persist, even if the particular remedial relations that had arisen on its basis continue after invalidation of the law."