Resonant cases and trials of 2010

The past 2010 was marked by many resonant trials, where natives of Southern Russia and the Caucasus were figurants; a full stop was put in many of them. Some of these trials were held abroad and acquired great public resonance because notable political figures were involved. Most often it concerned one of the regions of Russia - the Chechen Republic, which is still under close scrutiny of human rights defenders.

Also, last year was marked by passing final decision on cases of Moscow-based groupings, which had been killing people of non-Slavic nationalities, by trials started in Northern Caucasus on murders of prominent people, as well as by further consideration in Kabardino-Balkaria case of the case dealing with attack on Nalchik in 2005.

TRIALS ASSOCIATED WITH SITUATION IN CHECHNYA

Litigation of Chechen President versus head of the HRC "Memorial"

In 2010 in Moscow the litigation continued initiated by the Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov against Oleg Orlov, head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", who claimed Kadyrov's guilt in the murder on July 15, 2009, of the Chechen human rights advocate Natalia Estemirova.

On October 6, 2009, the Tver Moscow Court considered Mr Kadyrov's civil lawsuit on protection of his honour and dignity and partially satisfied it by ruling to collect in favour of the President of Chechnya 50,000 roubles from the HRC "Memorial", and 20,000 roubles - personally from Mr Orlov. Both parties lodged cassation appeals, which on January 21, 2010, were rejected by the Moscow City Court. On that very day, the HRC "Memorial" announced its intention to apply to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) with a demand to review the decision passed by the Moscow City Court.

Oleg Orlov said that the criminal case initiated against him for slandering the President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov should be stopped soon for lack of crime attributes; however, on July 6, 2010, Oleg Orlov was charged and questioned as a defendant.

On September 13, 2010, the Moscow Judicial Precinct No. 363 of the Khamovniki District held its first hearing on the criminal case against Oleg Orlov. The rights defender refused to plead guilty of slandering the head of Chechnya.

During the subsequent court sessions, several witnesses of the prosecution were questioned and stated that there no grounds to accuse Kadyrov of any prejudiced attitude to human rights activists. From November 25 on, the trial saw interrogation of the defence witnesses, among them: Svetlana Gannushkina, head of the "Civil Assistance" Committee; Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, an employee of the HRC "Memorial"; and Tatiana Lokshina, deputy director of the Moscow office of the Human Rights Watch. They said that Orlov had had grounds to accuse Kadyrov, and also told about threats to Estemirova by the President of Chechnya, which, according to their stories, he made personally and through his subordinates.

The next court session will be held on January 13, 2011. It is expected that it will continue questioning witnesses. The "Caucasian Knot" runs the chronicle of the judicial conflict of the President of Chechnya with the head of the HRC "Memorial".

Trial in Dubai on Sulim Yamadaev's murder

In 2010, the full stop was put in the case on the attempt on the Hero of Russia and former commander of the "Vostok" (East) special-purpose battalion of the GRU (Russian Military Intelligence) Sulim Yamadaev.

Sulim Yamadaev was shot dead on March 28, 2008, in Dubai, where he had lived for several months with his wife and children. This was shortly after a conflict burst out between Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and the Yamadaev family. In the vicinity of the city of Gudermes in Chechnya, a group of "Vostok" servicemen (then under command of Sulim Yamadaev) did not give the way to Kadyrov's presidential motorcade. The incident nearly ended in gunfire. The situation was settled personally by Ramzan Kadyrov who declared the incident closed. However, soon after that a series of events followed, which was treated by observers as "the war of clans."

Yamadaevs' relatives expressed confidence that the attempt on Sulim Yamadaev and the murder of his brother Ruslan Yamadaev were backed by the authorities of Chechnya. However, the President of Chechnya categorically denied his involvement in the murder of Ruslan and attempt on Sulim Yamadaev.

On April 12, 2010, the court in Dubai sentenced the Iranian citizen Makhdi Lorniya and the citizen of Tajikistan Maksudzhon Ismatov to life imprisonment (in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this is the term of 25 years). The prosecution insisted on the capital punishment - death penalty; however, the convicts kept declaring their innocence.

On August 23, Isa Yamadaev, Sulim's brother, who had earlier claimed that his brother survived after the attempt committing on him in the UAE, announced that Sulim Yamadaev had died. The day before information appeared about the meeting of Isa Yamadaev with Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and reconciliation of the parties. On August 25, President of Chechnya was present, together with Adam Delimkhanov, at the funeral ceremony on Sulim Yamadaev in the Yamadaevs' house in Gudermes. In September Isa Yamadaev said that he was ready to forgive Makhdi Lorniya.

In November, the advocates of the convicts for murdering Sulim Yamadaev submitted a letter to the UAE court signed by Isa Yamadaev, in which he renounced all the claims against all the defendants in the attempt case on his brother within the civil and criminal cases; and on December 22, the Court of Appeal of Dubai replaced the life imprisonment of Makhdi Lorniya and Maksudzhon Ismatov for 27 months of imprisonment.

Trial in Moscow on Ruslan Yamadaev's murder case

On October 18, 2010, in Moscow a sentence was passed to the defendants accused of murdering the Hero of Russia, former State Duma Deputy Ruslan Yamadaev.

Under the sentence of the Moscow City Court, the direct - according to investigators - executor of the murder Aslanbek Dadaev received 20 years of imprisonment in a high security colony. His accomplice Elim-Pasha Khatsuev was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment in a super-high security colony. The third figurant in the case - Timur Isayev, who had been also accused together with Dadaev of an attempt on the head of the "Converse Bank" Aleksander Antonov, received 14 years of high security regime. Also, according to the verdict, the court ruled to collect 5 million roubles from the convicts in favour of the casualty's brother Isa Yamadaev.

The consideration of this case began in July 2010 in the open mode by the Moscow City Court. According to investigators, some unidentified persons had offered Dadaev and Khatsuev to kill Ruslan Yamadaev for remuneration.

None of the defendants pled guilty of murdering Ruslan Yamadaev; and in November 2010 their advocates lodged cassation complaints against the verdict.

Case of Umar Israilov's murder in Austria

In 2010, another trial started outside Russia, in which the name of Ramzan Kadyrov again figures. The court in Vienna is considering the case of a  murder of Umar Israilov, a native of Chechnya and a former Kadyrov's security guard, committed near Umar's home in the Austrian capital on January 13, 2009; the casualty had been granted political asylum in Austria in 2006.

Currently, three Chechens accused of forming a criminal grouping, an attempt of kidnapping and a murder, are facing the trial. According to the version of the investigation, Mr Kadyrov had to do with this murder; the murdered Israilov had accused Kadyrov of torture and kidnappings in his complaint submitted to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

Let us note here that Ramzan Kadyrov himself has repeatedly stated his non-involvement in Israilov's murder. He believes the allegations against him to be a provocation and asserts that an information war is waged against him and Chechnya.

On November 26, the presiding judge of the Vienna Criminal Court Frederick Forsthuber finished the first part of hearings on the case and officially decided to summon President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov for questioning about his involvement in the murder. The latter refused to go to the trial in Vienna.

PROCESSES ON TERRORIST CASES

Cases on accidents with "Neva-Express" Train in 2007 and 2009

The "Neva-Express" Train Moscow-St Petersburg was derailed for the first time near the city of Malaya Vishera, Novgorod Region on August 13, 2007; 60 persons then suffered, but there were no casualties. The fast train No. 166 Moscow-St Petersburg suffered another crash on the border of the Novgorod and Tver Regions on November 27, 2009. As a result of the catastrophe, 28 persons were lost and over 90 more were injured.

The criminal investigation against residents of Ingushetia Maksharip Khidriev and Salambek Dzahkiev, accused of blowing up the "Neva-Express" Train in 2007, was over only in February 2009. According to inspectors, Dzahkiev and Khidriev purchased and transported to the Malaya Vishera District the explosive substance for manufacturing a self-made explosive device, which was planted into the railway. The defendants complained of pressure exerted on them by inspectors. The ICPO denied all the allegations.

On November 25, 2009, Khidriev pled guilty of preparing the terror act and reiterated his earlier statement that he had slandered the other defendant, Salambek Dzahkiev, whose alibi was confirmed.

However, on January 15, 2010, Salambek Dzahkiev and Maksharip Khidriev were acquitted under the article of terrorism. The court found them guilty only of illegal explosive circulation. According to the verdict, Salambek Dzahkiev received 10 years of imprisonment, and Maksharip Khidriev - 4 years.

On March 31, 2010, the Investigatory Committee under the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of Russia presented charges of terrorism to residents of the Ingush village of Ekazhevo - members of the Khoartoy clan and wearing the surname Kartoev, and to their fellow villager Zelimkhan Aushev under the case of undermining the "Neva-Express" Train in the fall of 2009. Later, 10 natives of Ingushetia were arrested, but they still refuse to plead guilty. Now, the suspects are in the SIZO "Lefortovo".

In late September it became known that the investigation presented new charges against them - of blowing up the "Neva-Express" Train in 2007. The advocate of Ekazhevo villagers believes that new allegations against his clients are ungrounded; while detainees' relatives reported about torture and psychological pressure exerted on their relatives by power agents.

On November 1, the Basmanny Court of Moscow extended until March 2, 2011, the arrest of 10 figurants in the 2009 "Neva-Express" Train explosion; and on November 18, 2010, it became known that the investigation of the case was extended till March 2011.

Trial in Kabardino-Balkaria on the attack on Nalchik

On December 20, the last in 2010 sitting of the court, where the case of the armed attack on Nalchik in 2005 is considered, took place.

The attack on Nalchik was committed on October 13, 2005. In the course of it, 35 law enforcement officers and military servicemen, 14 civilians and 92 attackers were lost. Now 58 persons are in the prisoner's dock. They are charged of terrorism, banditry, organization of and participation in armed mutiny, participation in an organized criminal association, murders and attempted murders of law enforcers. According to the prosecution, the participants of the attack on power agencies wanted to capture weapons for further armed struggle towards establishing a Sharia state. Most of the accused refuse to plead guilty.

At present, the court has started considering the episode "3rd OVD". Earlier, the trial on this criminal case had considered episodes named "Landysh", "1st OVD", "MIA", "2nd OVD", "DFSB", "Tsentr-T" and "UFSIN"; several defendants presented their evidences. The case will continue on January 17, 2011.

Let us note here that a special building was erected for this process in Nalchik, connected by a corridor with the investigatory isolation facility (SIZO). The materials of the criminal case are grouped in more than 1300 volumes. The indictment makes 530 volumes. 1300 witnesses and 191 victims are figuring in the case.

TRIALS ON CASES BASED ON ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS HATRED

Trial in Moscow of Ryno-Skachevskiy grouping of skinheads

In 2010 in Moscow a sentence was passed to leaders of a skinhead grouping Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevskiy under the case, which had been considered behind closed doors since October 1, 2008. On April 8, the Moscow City Court found Ryno and Skachevskiy guilty of ethnic-motivated attacks; however, decided not to toughen the punishment under the first sentence imposed in December 2008 - 10 years in prison. The verdict was based on the jury's opinion.

On March 25, a jury of the Moscow City Court found Ryno and Skachevskiy guilty of a murder attempt; and on September 9, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upheld the verdict.

Ryno, Skachevskiy and another figurant in the case - Kuzin - were accused of attacking an Armenian citizen in Mytischi on October 11, 2006, a street cleaner from Uzbekistan near the metro station "Teply Stan" on January 22, 2007, and of an attempted murder of a Tajik citizen near the metro station "Sviblovo" on March 9, 2007. From August 2006 to October 2007, the members of the grouping, as was established by the investigation, killed 20 persons and injured 12 more.

In November 2010, a new criminal case under the murder article was initiated Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevskiy. They are suspected of the murder committed in Moscow on April 4, 2007. The investigation believes that the crime was also committed due to racial hatred.

Let us note here that on December 15, 2008, the Moscow City Court sentenced to imprisonment for 6 years of minimum security up to 20 years of high security a group of skinheads, who had committed, under the leadership of Ryno and Skachevskiy, 20 murders and 12 attacks on the basis national hatred, including on natives from the Caucasus. It was one of the most resonant trials on the crimes committed on the grounds of national and racial hatred. However, on April 29, 2010, the Supreme Court reduced sentences to four convicts involved in the case; also the qualification of their actions under the article of the Criminal Code "Incitement of Ethnic-Motivated Hatred" was excluded from their verdicts due to limitation period.

Trial in Moscow of "White Wolves" grouping

On February 25, 2010, the Moscow City Court passed a sentence to the participants of the nationalists' grouping "Belye Volki" (White Wolves), who had committed a series of murders of persons of non-Slavic appearance. Nine of the twelve defendants, including their alleged leader - an ethnic Georgian Alex Dzhavakhishvili, were found guilty and sentenced to terms ranging from 7 to 23 years in prison.

In the course of the investigation, half of the defendants pled guilty in part or in full; others denied their involvement in killings. Meanwhile, none of them would give up, even at the trial, their neo-Nazi views. As noted by Judge Eduard Chuvashov, members of the grouping had experienced hate and hostility towards persons of another race, non-Slavic origin and nationality, "and chose their victims" among people with Asian appearance."

On October 23, 2010, the jury of the Moscow City Court passed the verdict of guilty in the criminal case against the members of neo-Nazi grouping "White Wolves" Vasily Krivets and Dmitri Ufimtsev: life imprisonment for Krivets and 22 years in high security colony - for Ufimtsev. The former was found guilty of 15 ethnic-motivated murders, while the latter confessed of five murders.

Trial in Karelia on mass riots in Kondopoga

On April 1, 2010, the Supreme Court of Karelia also put a full stop in the case on mass riots involving the natives of the Caucasus in the Karelian city of Kondopoga and sentenced the main defendant in the case Islam Magomadov to 22 years of imprisonment. Magomadov was accused of murdering two persons and a murder attempt. The other five defendants in the case, who were accused of hooliganism and causing harm to human health, received different prison terms. In addition, the court ruled on compensation of moral harm to the victims in the amounts from 50,000 to 1 million roubles.

Let us remind you that in late August 2006 mass riots burst out in Kondopoga, caused by a mass brawl between locals and immigrants from the Caucasus, in which two persons were lost.

Under the same case, earlier, in 2007 and 2008, Kondopoga militiamen were found guilty and sentenced for negligence in connection with the riots, as well as 12 local residents, who were accused of pogroms and arsons of trading booths of Caucasians. All of them received conditional terms.

Trial on the exhibition "Forbidden Art" in Moscow

No less resonant case involving allegations of incitement to religious hatred was considered in 2010 by courts in Moscow against the organizers of the exhibition "Forbidden Art-2006", namely, Yuri Samodurov, ex-director of the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Social Centre, and Andrei Yerofeyev, former head of the division of contemporary art at the Tretyakov Picture Gallery.

The exhibition "Forbidden Art-2006" was held in March 2007 in Moscow and demonstrated the works banned for show in other places. Some of the works dealt with religion topics, where the authors combined Christian symbols and cult objects with objects of everyday life and pop culture - Mickey Mouse, black caviar, obscene graffiti, etc. All the exhibits were hidden from the audience behind a false wall, and it was offered to view them through special small holes in it. The aim of the event, as the organizers formulated it, was to study the problems of censorship and self-censorship in contemporary art.

On July 12, 2010, the Taganka Court in Moscow found Messrs Yerofeyev and Samodurov guilty of inciting religious hatred and enmity and fined them by 150,000 and 200,000 roubles, respectively. Their advocates filed a complaint against the sentence to the Moscow City Court. However, on October 4, 2010, the Moscow City Court upheld the sentence.

Earlier, rights activists had repeatedly defended the organizers of the exhibition. The criminal case, initiated against Samodurov and Yerofeyev, was mentioned in the report "Civil Society in Anti-Civil Circumstances. Groundless Restrictions of Independent Public Activities" of the Human Rights Watch (HRW), published in January 2010. The HRW believes that Russian authorities are incorrectly using the legislation on counteracting the extremist activity "to stifle the freedom of self-expression in arts and independent civil society activities."

TRIALS ON RESONANT MURDERS IN NORTHERN CAUCASUS

Trial in Karachay-Cherkessia on Bostanov's murder

In the end of 2010, the city of Cherkessk began a trial on the murder of Ismail-Hadji Bostanov, deputy head of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) and Rector of the Islamic Institute.

Let us remind you that the attempt on Ismail Bostanov took place in the outskirts of Cherkessk on September 20, 2009, on the day, when Muslims around the world celebrated one of their major holidays - Uraza Bairam. Ismail-Hadji Bostanov, who was travelling in his car driven by his son Muhammad Bostanov, born in 1993, was shot dead inside the car, while his teenage son received heavy bodily injuries.

There are five figurants in the case: Salavat Gandaev, 31, a former member of the territorial election commission of the Karachay municipal district; Rashid Blimgotov, 36, ex-head of the administration of the Nizhne-Teberda rural settlement; and Nazbi Adzhiev, 39, Imam of Kislovodsk.

They were charged of arms trafficking, a murder committed by an organized group, organization of an illegal armed formation, participation in it and banditry. The punishment under these articles is up to 20 years of imprisonment.

The figurants in the case are also Ramazan Berdiev, 30, an assistant of the chairman of the SAM of the KChR and Stavropol Territory, and Taulan Temirov, 26, accused of complicity in the murder.

Trial in Dagestan on murder of Farid Babaev

On May 21, 2010, by the decision of the Supreme Court of Dagestan Rasil Mamedrizaev was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment in a high security colony for murdering Farid Babaev, leader of the Dagestani branch of the "Yabloko" Party. The jurors found Mamedrizaev guilty, while asking for his indulgence at the same time. Seferali Sefimirzoev, accused of complicity in the murder, was acquitted by the jurors.

On January 20, 2009, the Supreme Court of Dagestan found Rasil Mamedrizaev, a resident of the republic, guilty of murdering Babaev and sentenced him to 16 years of imprisonment. Seferali Sefimirzoev then was also acquitted. The prosecution filed a cassation appeal against this decision to the Supreme Court of Russia. Mamedrizaev advocate also appealed against the verdict. On June 4, 2009, the Russia's Supreme Court cancelled the earlier passed sentence and sent the case to the Supreme Court of Dagestan for a new trial by another bench of judges.

Farid Babaev was shot dead in Makhachkala, on the threshold of his house on November 21, 2007.

In May 2010, the "Yabloko" Party issued a special statement on the trial, claiming "an undisguised pressure on witnesses and jurors from all the interested persons, with the result that they changed or abandoned their evidences against the accused, given at the preliminary investigation." Initially, the political version of Babaev's murder was dominant, as he was known in the republic as an activist of the opposition. Babaev castigated Kerimkhan Abasov, head of the Dokuzparin District of Dagestan and republic's militiamen for the shooting of the peaceful demonstration on April 25, 2006.

The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" believes that the inquiry into Farid Babaev's murder was not thorough enough.

Trial in North Ossetia on ordered killings

On November 23, 2010, the Supreme Court of North Ossetia began the trial of Alexander Dzhussoev, accused of murdering in 2008 Mayor of Vladikavkaz Vitaly Karaev, former Vice-Prime Minister Kazbek Pagiev, and of several other ordered murders.

Alexander Dzhussoev had previously concluded a pre-trial agreement on cooperation with the investigation and fully admitted the charges, but on November 16 he completely changed his testimony and claimed his innocence. Therefore, the trial is held - instead of simplified procedure - in the usual way with involvement of victims, witnesses and experts.

According to the investigation, in July 2008, Dzhussoev joined an armed grouping, which included more than 10 members. From July to December 2008, he committed, together with other members of the grouping, by using firearms, murders of the head of local government of Vladikavkaz, former Vice-Prime Minister of the republic and several other civilians.

Besides, Dzhussoev is accused of attempts on the lives of law enforcement officers - head of the First Division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Criminal Militia and head of the operative-search unit (OSU-1) of the CID of the republic's MIA.

Three convicts, who had been found by the court to be Dzhussoev's accomplices, are already serving their long prison terms, appointed to them under simplified trials, since they had pled guilty.

TRIALS OF 2011

Murder case of lawyer Markelov in Moscow

On the first working day of the year, on January 11, the Moscow City Court has appointed preliminary hearing on the case against Nikita Tikhonov and Eugenia Khasis, accused of killing lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova in January 2009 in Moscow.

Let us remind you that Stanislav Markelov was killed on January 19, 2009, when he was on his way back from the press conference in the Independent Press Centre in Prechistenka Boulevard dedicated to early release of former colonel Yuri Budanov. Anastasia Baburova, a student of journalism at the Moscow State University and a journalist of the "Novaya Gazeta", who accompanied the lawyer, was wounded and later died in hospital.

The defendants in the case are Nikita Tikhonov and Eugenia Khasis, members of nationalist organizations. In the final version of the case, Khasis was acquitted of complicity in murdering Baburova; she is accused only of complicity in Markelov's murder.

Inspectors believe that Khasis and Tikhonov killed advocate Markelov, because he defended anti-fascists and persons, who suffered from nationalists, at trials. Meanwhile Tikhonov stated in the court in the end of December 2009 that he had evidenced under the pressure of the investigation: he allegedly received threats that his common-law wife Khasis would be killed. Eugenia's friends do not believe at all in her involvement in the murder.

The "Caucasian Knot" wrote that Markelov had represented the interests of the victims in the resonant murder case of Elsa Kungaeva, a resident of Chechnya, under which Yuri Budanov was convicted, and was actively against Budanov's early release. One day before the murder, on January 18, 2009, Markelov gave an interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, in which he announced his plans to re-appeal against Budanov's early release. Unfortunately, the lawyer had no time to realize his intention.

Massacre in Kuschevskaya

On November 5, 2010, in the house of a local farmer in the village of Kuschevskaya, Krasnodar Territory, 12 burnt bodies with stab wounds, including children, were found. This crime and subsequent events made the village known throughout the country. During the investigation facts appeared that for along time the region was under control of a stable criminal grouping, which was linked, as local residents assert, with the district militia.

It is still unknown when the trial on this resonant case will start; however, murder charges have already been presented to eight members of this grouping, which was led by the inhabitant of the village Sergey Tsapok, who is the main suspect of organizing the crime.

Also, the members of the gang are suspected of the mass murder; the grouping was engaged in robberies committed in the Rostov Region and Krasnodar Territory, presumably under the leadership of Tsapok. Two members of the grouping were detained in Ukraine. Now, the process is underway of their extradition to Russia.

Besides, other criminal cases are under investigation; they were initiated after the numerous inspection teams, who visited the village after the massacre. Among them, there is the case against Alexei Khodych, head of the Centre for Combating Extremism of the Kuschevskiy District, who was dismissed from office and arrested on suspicion of complicity in the actions of the grouping, guilty of murdering 12 persons; and the criminal case on the fact of using slave labour in the territory of the Limited Liability Company (LLC) "Artex-Agro", belonging to Sergey Tsapok's mother. It was reported earlier about restart of investigating 12 previously committed crimes in Kuschevskaya. On December 21, representatives of the Investigatory Committee under the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of Russia said about solving 11 grave crimes of previous years, committed in Kuschevskaya, which has suddenly become the focus of attention of almost entire country.