MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti) - The prosecution in the trial of two ethnic Chechens and a Moscow notary accused of killing Forbes Russia Editor Paul Klebnikov will start to present evidence Wednesday when the trial resumes behind closed doors at the Moscow City Court after a six-day adjournment.
Prosecutors claim Chechens Kazbek Dukuzov, Musa Vakhayev and notary Fail Sadretdinov gunned down Klebnikov on July 9, 2004 on the orders of Chechen businessman Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, who wanted revenge for a critical book, Conversations with a Barbarian, which featured him as the central figure.
The defendants deny the charges.
According to the prosecution, Nukhayev recruited a Chechen gang, including Vakhayev and Dukuzov - who were arrested by Belarusian police in Minsk on November 17 last year - and two other men, named as Magomed Dukuzov and Magomed Edilsultanov. They remain on the federal wanted list.
Klebnikov, a United States national, had worked for Forbes since 1989 and gained his reputation for investigating murky post-Soviet business dealings and corruption.
