01 December 2008, 14:14
Trial of Politkovskaya's murder suspended because witnesses fail to appear
The process on the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, journalist of the "Novaya Gazeta", has announced a break till 11:00 a.m. on December 2. Apart from two defendants' friends, none of the witnesses has appeared in the courtroom.
The court has interrogated Askham-Pashi Kukaev, a friend of Dzhabrail Makhmudov, and Anastasia Kirpichenkova, 21, a girlfriend of Ibragim Makhmudov. Both of the witnesses assert that neither Dzhabrail nor Ibragim had a car.
The prosecution asked the lady-witness if she had ever seen any goods forbidden for circulation (firearms or drugs) on Ibragim, to which she said: "No, never." She added that she had got acquainted with Makhmudov back in October 2004.
Besides, Ms Kirpichenkova said that on October 7, 2006, on the day of Politkovskaya's murder, at about 8-9 p.m. she had a meeting with Ibragim Makhmudov in a bar-cafe situated in Lytkino settlement of the Solnechnogorsk District near Moscow.
She came there at about 8:00 p.m. Ibragim already was there with a friend of his. As she said, Makhmudov behaved as usually, but he drank no alcohol and explained that is was because of the sacred month of Ramadan.
