01 June 2009, 18:00
In Dagestan, the Chernovik's case has been returned to the Mahachkala Regional Court
The Dagestani Supreme Court Criminal Board has reversed the Mahachkala Leninski Regional Court ruling on the lack of jurisdiction of the Leniniski Court over the criminal case involving five journalists of the Chernovik's weekly and its referral for consideration on the merits to the Kirovski City Regional Court.
Thus, according to the today's edition of GazetaRu, the Mahachkala Leninski Regional Court will continue to consider the Chernovik's case.
Chernovik weekly journalist Magomed Magomedov, an accused in the criminal case, told earlier the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the accused had requested both the Investigation Board and the General Prosecutor's Office to refer both the investigation of and supervision over the criminal case to a different Russia's subject as they trust neither the local Investigation Board nor the Republican Prosecutor Igor Tkachev.
He said, for example, that Mirzabala Mirzabalayev, Deputy Head of the Investigation Board of the ICPO RF (Investigation Committee of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation) for the Republic of Dagestan is the father of Maksim Mirzabalayev, Chief Investigator for Particularly Dangerous Cases, who investigated the criminal case against the Chernovik newspaper. The Board Deputy Head is ex officio the deputy head of Tkachev, Prosecutor of the Republic of Dagestan.
"Consequently, both Mirzabalyev the junior and the senior are directly dependent on the Prosecutor of the Republic who has personal enmity against Chernovik and is one of those who initiated the prosecution of the newspaper," said Magomed Magomedov.
In his words, Prosecutor Tkachev himself is a defendant in a civil case in which the Chernovik newspaper is a plaintiff. The newspaper accused the Dagestani prosecutor of professional incompetency. Under these conditions, the journalists doubt whether Igor Tkachev will be able to exercise prosecutor's supervision over the lawfulness and objectivity of the investigation.
