05 August 2009, 20:00
Prosecution, victims and defendant ask court to return Politkovskaya's case back to Prosecutor's Office
Representatives of the family of journalist Anna Politkovskaya ask the Moscow Regional Military Court to return the murder case of the observer of the "Novaya Gazeta" back to the Prosecutor's Office. The same demand was moved by the state accusation; the defence has also supported the petition.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today the Moscow Regional Military Court has held the first session after cancellation of the acquittal verdict. The preliminary hearings passed in the closed mode.
Sergey Hadjikurbanov, one of the figurants in the case, has also asked to return the case to the Prosecutor's Office.
The state accuser Amalia Ustaeva has supported the petition to return the case to the Prosecutor's Office to unite it with the main case under which customers and executors of the crime are established, the ITAR-TASS reports.
The defence has upheld the victims' petition to unite the cases. Advocate Saidahmet Arsamerzaev has noted that although the decision is against the defendants' interests, out of respect for the victims, the defence supports it.
Murad Musaev, advocate of one of the defendants, has noted at the court that the return of the case to prosecutors can contribute to the interests of the inquiry, in order not to admit another acquittal verdict. "The investigation had enough time for gathering proofs, but nothing was gathered," he said to journalists.
The "Interfax" reports that Dmitri Muratov, editor-in-chief of the "Novaya Gazeta", believes that Politkovskaya's murder case really needs an additional investigation.
"We rely on a serious litigation, not repetition of what we already saw. Going out to the second process with all those proofs, considered by the (Moscow Regional Military) Court is inadmissible," he said.
