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Russia military judge orders open trial for men accused in killing of journalist

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] A Moscow District Military Court judge ruled on Monday that the trial of three men accused in the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya will be made open to the public. This decision came after the family of the slain journalist requested that the trial remain open despite the prosecution's fear that an open trial would expose classified security information used as evidence. The family asserts that the actual killer responsible for Politkovskaya's murder has not been found. While an open trial is a victory for the family, presiding military judge Yevgeny Zubov has threatened to close the trial again if there is any pressure on the jury. Sergey Khadzhikurbanov and brothers Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov, all from Chechnya, were arrested in August 2007. The main suspect, Rustam Makhmudov, also from Chechnya, has yet to be captured, but Russian authorities have said he is hiding in Western Europe. Closed preliinary hearings in the case began last month. Politkovskaya, a reporter for the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was murdered after returning to her Moscow apartment building in October 2006.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on November 17, 2008 (boomark / email).