A Moscow military court has decided to press on with the retrial of three alleged accomplices in Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya’s murder, rejecting a petition by the Politkovskaya family for it to be postponed while further investigations were carried out. Presiding judge Nikolai Tkachuk on Friday denied the request although it was supported both defence lawyers and prosecutors.
“We are utterly dismayed by the Russian judicial system’s inability to demonstrate any determination to solve this murder,” Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) said. “There could not have been a worse decision just weeks after Natalia Estemirova’s tragic murder and just two months before the third anniversary of Politkovskaya’s death. Impunity now reigns supreme in Russia.”
It said, “This decision serves to confirm that nothing can be expected from this retrial. No light will be shed on the many questions left unanswered by the original trial. The retrial will be nothing more than an empty formality.”
The three suspects are being retried as a result of a supreme court ruling on June 25 in favour of an appeal by prosecutors against their acquittal by a jury on February 19. As soon as the retrial opened on August 5, the Politkovskaya family submitted their request for a postponement to permit further investigations.
The court deferred a decision on the petition, which was backed by both the prosecutor’s office and the defence, for the next hearing. After announcing his refusal Friday, Judge Tkachuk said the retrial would resume on September 7, when a jury would be chosen.
