[DEBATE] : Anna Politkovskaya trial: Four accused found not guilty

[Riaz K Tayob]

Anna Politkovskaya trial: Four accused found not guilty

Verdict leaves assassination of Russian investigative journalist unsolved

    * Luke Harding in Moscow
    * guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 February 2009 16.54 GMT
    * Article history

The defendants and lawyers at court Link to this video


Four men accused of helping to organise the murder of the Russian 
journalist Anna Politkovskaya were today acquitted by a court in Moscow, 
amid claims by human rights activists that those responsible for her 
death are still at large.

Two Chechen brothers, Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov, together with a 
former Moscow policeman, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, were cleared of 
offering her killer operational support. The fourth defendant, Pavel 
Ryaguzov, a lieutenant colonel in Russia's FSB spy agency, was acquitted 
in a separate but related case.
Anna Politkovskaya Anna Politkovskaya. Photograph: Colin McPherson/Corbis

Politkovskaya, Russia's most famous opposition journalist and a scathing 
critic of Kremlin power, was shot dead in her Moscow apartment block on 
October 7 2006. Prosecutors alleged that her assassin was a third 
Makhmudov brother, Rustam, who they claim has now escaped abroad. The 
two other Makhmudov brothers staked out her flat before the killing and 
gave Rustam a lift to the scene, they said.

Friends of the murdered journalist today described the investigation 
into her murder and the subsequent trial as deeply flawed. Police have 
apparently been unable to identify the person who ordered 
Politkovskaya's assassination, while sources at Novaya Gazeta, the paper 
for which Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent, have 
described the case against the accused as "very weak", suggesting the 
conspiracy was planned at a much higher level.

During the investigation vital pieces of evidence disappeared, including 
mobile phone SIM cards, computer discs and a photo of Rustam Makhmudov, 
who apparently fled to western Europe using a false passport. Crucial 
video footage showing the assassin entering Politkovskaya's apartment 
block went missing.

The video, shot from behind, shows a narrow-shouldered man wearing a 
baseball cap. During the three-month trial held at Moscow's district 
military court the Makhmudovs' lawyer produced mobile phone footage of 
Rustam swimming in a Chechen river. It revealed he has broad shoulders.

In their final words to the jury on Wednesday, all four defendants 
insisted they were innocent. During the chaotic and frequently 
amateurish trial Politkovskaya's son Ilya and daughter Vera sat a few 
feet from the accused, who were locked inside a yellow metal cage. In a 
speech to the jury earlier this week, Karina Moskalenko, the lawyer for 
the Politkovskya family, said the murder had been ordered at a much 
higher level than the defendants.

"The whole thing has been organised at a high level, not at the level of 
the accused," she said.

Novaya Gazeta has carried out its own investigation into Politkovskaya's 
violent death at the age of 48. It has so far refused to reveal its 
findings. The person most widely suspected of involvement in her death 
is Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's pro-Moscow president, who is accused of 
numerous human rights abuses and was a frequent target of 
Politkovskaya's criticism. He has denied any involvement in her death.

Prosecutors vowed to appeal, claiming the judge had committed numerous 
procedural violations. The female captain of the 12-member jury read out 
the unanimous not guilty verdicts after about two hours of deliberations 
at a military courthouse on Moscow's main souvenir shopping street, the 
Old Arbat.

When the judge repeated that the defendants were acquitted, relatives of 
the Makhmudov brothers broke into applause and cries of "bravo". The 
judge said the defendants were free to go, and they burst out of a 
courtroom cage and embraced relatives.

"Thank God, thank the jury," said Ibragim Makhmudov, still in the 
courtroom cage shortly after the verdict. "There was no other possible 
outcome."

"We're glad," said defence lawyer Murad Musayev. "This is something that 
happens rarely in Russia. This is what I call justice."

In his final arguments earlier this week, Musayev had accused the 
prosecution of fabricating evidence and dismissed their case as "dust, 
fluff and ash".

Relatives and former colleagues of Politkovskaya said justice would not 
be served until the gunman and the mastermind were prosecuted.
"The investigators now have to start a proper investigation," said 
Karinna Moskalenko, a prominent lawyer who represented Politkovskaya's 
family at the trial. "The more time goes by, the harder it gets."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/feb/19/anna-politkovskaya-verdict