Court refuses to take Makhmudov brothers out to the place of Politkovskaya's murder

On Wednesday, the Moscow Regional Military Court rejected the petition of the defendants in the case - brothers Ibragim and Dzhabrail Makhmudov - to take them out to the scene of the crime.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the charge of murdering Politkovskaya was presented to three figurants: Sergey Khadzhikurbanov, Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov. At the court session on November 19 the defendants declared their full innocence. The relatives of the Makhmudovs, who trust in their innocence, have announced their readiness to pay 100,000 US dollars for any information about Politkovskaya's murder.

The RIA "Novosti" reports that the defendants wanted to visit the venue, since, as they assert, they could not recollect where they were on October 7, 2006, on the day when the journalist was shot dead.

According to the Makhmudovs, after their detention and during the investigation of the criminal case they had repeatedly asked the inspectors to take them out to the Lesnaya Street, as they know Moscow poorly, and this address means nothing for them.

The defence and victims' representatives supported this petition.

"I think that this chance should be given to them. This is a certain drawback of the investigation, since they had asked about it," said Karina Moskalenko, advocate of Politkovskaya's family.

However, the court has left the defendants' petition without satisfaction. "The court is not entitled to fill in the gaps of the investigation. I have what they gave to me. Therefore, I reject the petition," Judge Evgeniy Zubov said.