MOSCOW, October 16 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russian Investigation Committee has brought final accusations against five defendants in the murder case of an editorial writer of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper Anna Politkovskaya on Tuesday.
Murad Musayev, lawyer of defendant Dzhabrail Makhmudov, told Itar-Tass that his client asks to try the criminal case by the court of jury.
“Certainly, we will ask the court of jury, because if we do not ask it, one cannot doubt that a verdict will be guilty,” he said. The lawyer explained that under the law the defendant cannot be denied an appeal to try his criminal case by the court of jury. Musayev also noted that a relevant appeal is filed after the study of the files of the criminal case.
The lawyer noted that the defence will begin to study the criminal materials as long as the detectives give such an opportunity to them.
“The main investigation department of the Russian Investigation Committee has completed the investigation against five defendants, namely brothers Rustam, Ibragim and Dzhabrail Makhmudovs, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov and Lom-Ali Gaitukayev,” spokesman for the Russian Investigation Committee Vladimir Markin told Itar-Tass.
“They are accused under Article 105 Part 2 for murder, Article 222 Part 3 for illegal arms circulation,” he said.
“The detectives believe that (previously sentenced to 15 years on the accusations for masterminding an attempt on the life of a businessman in Kiev) Gaitukayev masterminded the crime. In 2006 he has formed an organized criminal group, which included other defendants, particularly police officer Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov,” Markin said. “The murder of the journalist was masterminded in detail, the killers have bought the weapons and coordinated their actions with each other. Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was controlling all actions of the organized criminal group,” he said.
“Receiving the information about the place of residence of the murder victim from Pavlyuchenkov, the Makhmudov brothers entrapped her in the car on the road on October 7, 2006. Noticing their victim behind the wheel, Ibragim Makhmudov told brother Dzhabrail about it, and the latter told Rustam about it that entered the entrance of the house, where Politkovskaya lived and began to wait for her arrival,” the Markin said. “When the journalist entered the elevator, Rustam Makhmudov has made several gunshots in her. The weapon of murder was found at the incident site. After that the defendants escaped from the murder scene,” he noted.
“The detectives have gathered enough evidence for an indictment. In this respect, today the detectives stated about the end to the preliminary investigation and notified the defendants, their lawyers and the injured party about it,” the spokesman said.
The defendants and their lawyers stated about the end to the investigation at 10:00 Moscow time on Tuesday. After the summons the injured parties will be invited to study the files of the criminal case.
“This criminal case was singled out in separate criminal proceedings. The investigation against the contractor of the crime and other unidentified people continues,” Markin noted.
The investigation against Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, who concluded a pre-trial agreement with the detectives, was finalized before.
The murder case of Anna Politkovskaya was already tried in the court. But on February 19, 2009, the jury in the Moscow District Military Court acquitted unanimously the brothers Ibragim and Dzhabrail Makhmudovs (Rustam Makhmudov, who is considered to be a direct perpetrator of the murder, was detained later – Itar-Tass), considering that the detectives failed to prove their involvement in the crime. They were released from the courtroom.
On June 26, 2009, the military penal of the Russian Supreme Court cancelled the acquitting verdict and brought the criminal case for a retrial.