21 March 2011, 20:00
Prosecutors fail to confirm that key witness in Markelov's and Baburova's murder refused to evidence
The party of the prosecution has no official information that the witness Ilya Goryachev, who had given evidences against the persons accused of murdering lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, refused from his words, as reported by Vladimir Zherebenkov, who is representing the parents of the deceased journalist.
Let us remind you that nationalists Nikita Tikhonov and Evgenia Khasis are in the dock of the Moscow City Court on charges of the murder. Tikhonov had earlier pled guilty of trafficking in weapons, but denied any involvement in the murder of the lawyer and journalist; Khasis denies her guilt whatsoever. The information that the main witness in the murder of the lawyer and journalist refused from his words that the suspects had told him that they committed the murder, was earlier reported by lawyer Alexander Vassiliev.
According to lawyer Zherebenkov, the information that Goryachev had refused from his evidences is just another provocation.
The spokesman of the Prosecutor's Office also told reporters that they have no such information, the ITAR-TASS reports.
At the court session the prosecutor Boris Loktionov announced the results of the examination, according to which traces of gunpowder left after shooting from firearms were detected on the clothes of the suspects of murdering Markelov and Baburova. He also noted that the bags and backpacks confiscated from the defendants had no traces of carrying firearms and ammunition, experts assert.
Besides, Boris Loktionov read out excerpts from Evgenia Khasis' notebook; in particular, there were such phrases: "Which set back is safer – along crowded streets or quiet doorways?", "How is the truth serum injected?", "How long can casual witnesses remember the event?", the "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" writes.