12:04, 22 April 2008

Moscow City Court acquits notary, a figurant in Khlebnikov's case

Notary Fail Sadretdinov, who had been accused of complicity in murder of Paul Khlebnikov, editor-in-chief of Russian Forbes, has been acquitted today by the Moscow City Court.

After his failed suicide attempt in a prison cell, Sadretdinov was placed in the mental ward of the prison hospital. He tried to commit suicide shortly after he had been transferred from the prison hospital of SIZO (pre-trial facility) "Matroskaya Tishina" into an ordinary cell. At hospital, the notary on remand was kept in the resuscitation ward, since after early December of 2007 he had three epileptic attacks, the "Gazeta.Ru" informs.

On December 17, 2007, the Moscow City Court returned the Paul Khlebnikov's murder case back to the General Prosecutor's Office demanding to ensure the appearance of one of the defendants - Kazbek Dukuzov, a native of Chechnya.

Anna Usachova, head of the press service of the Moscow City Court, said that Kazbek Dukuzov, one of the main figurants in the case, is now in the federal search.