A Russian court has decided not to ban reporters from the trial of three men accused in the killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya — paving the way for an open trial where details of the much-criticized investigation will be made public.
Politkovskaya, who was slain in her Moscow apartment building in 2006, reported on human rights abuses in Chechnya, embarrassing the Kremlin. Her killing sparked international outrage, and Western governments demanded an independent investigation.ADSFA
Her son, Ilya, said he was pleased the trial would be open.
“Of course we are happy. We are even very surprised,” he said on Monday.
In court, lawyers for Politkovskaya’s family were scathing in their criticism of the official investigation, which they said was sabotaged to allow the suspected triggerman and the as-yet-unidentified mastermind to escape justice.
“Our aim is for the investigation to identify the mastermind, the financier and all the other accomplices in the murder,” Karinna Moskalenko, who is representing Ilya and his sister, Vera, said after Monday’s preliminary hearing. “Until then, we do not consider the investigation over.”
The man accused of shooting Politkovskaya, Rustam Makhmudov, has fled the country, prosecutors say.
The suspects being tried on murder charges are Sergei Khadzhikurbanov — a former Moscow police officer — and Makhmudov’s brothers Ibragim and Dzhabrail. They are accused of providing logistical support for the murder. All three insisted to reporters on Monday that they were not guilty.
“We have no idea what exactly happened,” Dzhabrail Makhmudov said from the cage when asked how they wound up in custody. “But we are hoping for a fair trial.”
The defense expressed surprise at Judge Yevgeny Zubov’s decision to allow the open trial that it and Politkovksaya’s family had requested. The case is being heard in a military court because the fourth defendant, Pavel Ryaguzov, is a Federal Security Service officer. He is accused of criminal links with Khadzhikurbanov, but he has not been charged in Politkovskaya’s killing.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion