by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
MOSCOW, Russia – A preliminary hearing was held in the trial of five men accused in the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya on Monday.
The defendants were granted the right to a jury trial, as Russian law guarantees murder defendants the right to be tried by a jury, though most cases in Russia are decided by judges.
Anna Stavitskaya, the lawyer for Politkovskaya’s family, was pleased with the judge’s granting of a jury trial, stating, “From our point of view, a jury trial is the best option since it fully respects the adversarial principle between the sides.”
Politkovskaya, who was one of Russia’s most prominent investigative journalists, was shot to death in her apartment building on October 7, 2006. She had frequently criticized the Kremlin, and also accused the Russian military and pro-Moscow Chechen authorities of human rights abuses. At the time of her death, Politkovskaya worked for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
The case has caused an international stir and outraged human rights groups in Russia, and it has become a symbol of attempts to suffocate opposition of Vladimir Putin.
Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadrov, have stated that the murder was an outrageous act of violence that struck at the freedom of speech and required a thorough investigation.
“In my opinion murdering such a person certainly does much greater damage from the authorities’ point of view, authorities that she strongly criticized, than her publications ever did,” President Putin stated.
The five accused, Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, his three nephews Rustam, Ibragim and Dzhabrail Makhmudov, and a former Moscow police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, all participated in Monday’s hearing.
Ibragim and Dzhabrail Makhmudov and Khadzhikurbanov had already been acquitted of the murder in 2009, but that verdict was overturned by Russia’s supreme court.
Gaitukayev is believed to have organized the murder of Politkovskaya, while Rustam Makhmudov is believed to have been the actual gunman in the murder. The other two Makhmudov brothers are believed to have been accomplices to the murder.
Another former police officer, Dmitry Pavlyuchhenkov, was sentenced to eleven years in prison last year for supplying the murder weapon after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit the murder. Pavlyuchhenkov had implicated the current five defendants.
Currently, three of the defendants, Gaitukayev, Khadzhikurbanov, and Rustam Makhmudov, are being detained by Russian authorities, while Ibragim and Dzhabrail Makhmudov are restricted from traveling outside Russia.
The jurors are to be selected later this month on June 20th, with the first public hearing to be held shortly afterwards.
For more information, please see:
The St. Petersburg Times – Murder Suspects Demand Jury Trial – 5 June 2013
BBC News – Politkovskaya Murder: Defendants to have Jury Trial – 4 June 2013
Al Jazeera – Russia Murder Suspects Back on Trial – 3 June 2013
The Independent – Anna Politkovskaya Murder Trial is Rerun Six Years After Fatal Shooting of Anti-Corruption Journalist – 3 June 2013
Impunity Watch – Former Russian Policeman Sentenced for the Murder of Journalist – 24 December 2012
