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Hearing of Kondopoga Murders Resumed
Karelia’s Supreme Court resumed yesterday hearing the case on murders of Kondopoga residents, Denis Usin and Grigory Slezov, and on injuries caused to seven residents of the town. The crimes were committed during mass scuffles at night to August 30, 2006. The accused are a native of Dagestan and five Chechens.
The Kondopoga riots followed the fight in the Chaika cafe initiated by local Sergey Mozgalev and Yury Pliev, who leeched onto the Azeri barman for rough behavior. The waiter called to help the Chechens and Dagestans, giving a start to one of the gravest outbreaks of race violence in Russia. Denis Usin and Grigory Slezov were killed and seven more people taken to hospital. Chaika was burnt next day and Kondopoga witnessed the massacre that forced to flee much of the Chechen community.
Six Caucasians were detained for murders in Chaika. The key accused is Islam Magomadov, who had had a knife that day and who is currently charged with killing and injuring the café visitors. Magomadov may face a life sentence, while another five defendants will be sentenced for causing bodily injuries of different extent of gravity and for hooliganism.
As the hearing is held behind the doors, the prosecutors and defense refuse to comment officially. By hearsay, the lawyers have lodged a few appeals already, one of them for replacing an interpreter from the Chechen language - four of six accused claimed bad knowledge of Russian during preliminary investigation.
The preliminary hearing is to complete today and the trial on the merits will commence July 9.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 27, 2007
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