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Jury withdraws to deliberate verdict in Spartak fan murder case

Volkov was fatally stabbed and died in an ambulance. Another two persons were hospitalized

MOSCOW, October 26 (Itar-Tass) — A panel of jurors at the Moscow City Court has withdrawn to deliberate the verdict in the case over the murder of Yuri Volkov, a fan of the Spartak football club.

The jury will have to answer seven questions about the proof of the defendants' guilt. They mostly concern their involvement in the crimes they were charged with. Also, the jury will decide if the defendants deserve clemency.

Yuri Volkov, 22, was killed in a fight in central Moscow on July 10, 2010. The investigators said two groups of youngsters, numbering three and eight people, clashed in the Chistye Prudy area. "The fight was motivated by "personal dislike," the police said.

Volkov was fatally stabbed and died in an ambulance. Another two persons were hospitalized.

Charges were brought against two Chechnya natives: Akhmedpasha Aidayev (who is accused of murder) and Bekkhan Ibragimov (accused of hooliganism and malicious infliction of harm to health). Both deny their guilt saying Spartak fans had dragged them into the fight and that they had had no knives.

The suspects were checked on polygraph. "I can tell that the results of the polygraph tests are not in the defendants' favor," a lawyer told Tass earlier.

Recently, the Moscow City Court passed a verdict in the case over the murder of Spartak fan Yegor Sviridov on December 6, 2010. That crime caused a public outcry and resulted in mass disturbances in Moscow's Manezhnaya Square and other areas of the city.

The trial over the murder of Yuri Vokov was held behind closed doors as. The decision was made by the presiding judge after the injured parties complained they had been threatened.

Injured party Domnikov, who had participated on the fight on the side of Volkov, said defendants Ibragimov and Aidayev had threatened him in the course of the investigation.

"And then there were telephone threats," he said, "so I would like the inquest to be held in camera." Domnikov also said he was scared by numerous relatives and friends of the defendants who had gathered near the building of the court during preliminary hearings.