Sadretdinov, acquitted on Khlebnikov's case, faces another charge

The Moscow prosecutor's office presented a fraud charge to Moscow notary Fail Sadretdinov who was acquitted on the case of the murder of Paul Khlebnikov, editor-in-chief of the Russian version of the Forbes magazine.

"Today, the prosecutor's office of Moscow has exhibited a charge to Sadretdinov under point "a" of Part 3, Article 159 of the Criminal Code (fraudulent practices)," advocate Elena Liptzer stated, the RIA "Novosti" reported.

"These are absolutely contrived accusations - a natural vengeance from the General Prosecutor's Office for the lost trial," advocate Ruslan Koblev asserted earlier. "The case files mention an episode of an apartment swindle that allegedly took place in 2002 and was committed in relation to a deceased lady-citizen of Russia. According to Koblev, a new criminal case was initiated by the prosecutor's office right on the day of announcing the verdict on Khlebnikov's murder case - on May 6.

"The investigators had already known that all the three defendants were acquitted, and they invented a new case with the aim to put Sadretdinov into custody," the lawyer says. According to him, on May 10, Sadretdinov was announced into search on the new case, and on May 11, he was detained in the notary office, where he came to work.

Now, the advocates will demand to consider the application submitted to the European Court for Human Rights on violation of their clients' rights in the priority order.

Most probably, the Khlebnikov's murder case will be reconsidered, and the investigation now has to besmirch those acquitted before the new jury," lawyer Koblev believes.

Earlier, the Moscow City Court acquitted all three defendants on the case. The General Prosecutor's Office stated that it intended to appeal against the acquittal.

Khlebnikov was killed in Moscow on July 9, 2004. Two Chechens - Musa Vakhaev and Kazbek Dukuzov, and Moscow notary Fail Sadretdinov were defendants in the murder case. According to the investigation, the journalist's murder was committed by the members of an organized criminal group, comprised of citizens of Chechnya Dukuzov, his brother Magomed Dukuzov, Vakhaev, Magomed Edilsultanov, and others. The investigation also declared that it had established the customer of Khlebnikov's murder - Khozh-Ahmed Nukhaev, resident of the Chechen Republic.