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Jury selection to consider Budanov murder case planned for November 30

Moscow city court has begun to consider the criminal case

MOSCOW, November 16 (Itar-Tass) — The Moscow city court on Friday began to consider the criminal case against the suspected killer of ex-colonel Yuri Budanov.

During the court meeting, the defendant, Yusup Temerkhanov, asked for consideration of his case by a jury. The court accepted the appeal and set the date to select jurors for his case for November 30, 11:00 Moscow time.

The head of the press service of the Moscow court, Anna Usacheva, told Itar-Tass that the trial would be open.

Judge Andrei Korotkov on Friday also agreed with the prosecutor to prolong the arrest of Temerkhanov for six months longer. Thus, the court dismissed the appeal of the defence to release him on a 15 million roubles bail. Temerkhanov will be defended in court by three attorneys.

According to one of them, Murad Musayev, the defendant has already appealed to the European Court in connection with the refusal to investigate the case on alleged abduction of Temerkhanov before his official detention.

The materials of his case are in 18 volumes. There are 30 witnesses, including at least three secret ones, to give testimony over the case.

Forty-year-old Yusup Temerkhanov from the Republic of Chechnya is charged with committing the murder “on the grounds of hatred and enmity against a social group" and with illegal possession of firearms. The defendant pleads not guilty. During the preliminary investigation, he refused to answer the investigators' questions and intends to give testimony only in court.

According to the investigators, Temerkhanov on June 10, 2011, fired eight shots at Budanov when the ex-colonel went out from a notary's office at Komsomolskaya Avenue in Moscow. The ex-officer died on the spot.

Yuri Budanov, a former commander of the 160th Guards Tank Regiment, which participated in the counterterrorist operation in the Chechen Republic, was convicted of the murder of a local young woman in 2000.

The investigators suppose Temerkhanov killed the former officer in revenge for the death of his father who was killed by an unidentified serviceman the same year. The Chechen chose Budanov to be killed, since the trial against the former regiment commander created an excited public reaction, sources at the prosecutor's office said.

A separate criminal case is also opened against two suspected accomplices of Temerkhanov.

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