11/14/06

Russian court overturns acquittal of 3 accused in U.S. journalist's death


MOSCOW -- Russia's highest court has overturned the acquittal of three men in the killing of U.S. journalist Paul Klebnikov and ordered a new trial.

The court, acting Nov. 9 on an appeal by prosecutors and the victim's lawyers, said a new trial should be held with a new judge, said court spokesman Pavel Odintsov.

Klebnikov, 41, who was editor of Forbes magazine's Russian edition, was gunned down on a Moscow street in July 2004. Two men went on trial on charges of carrying out the killing on behalf of a Chechen separatist who was the subject of a critical book written by Klebnikov, but they and another man on trial on related charges were acquitted by a jury.

"We are satisfied, we are pleased with the decision of the Supreme Court," Klebnikov's brother, Michael, told The Associated Press from New York. "That shows that the Russian legal system can correct its own mistakes."

However, the U.S. journalist's family expressed disappointment at the failure to find those who ordered the murder and called for the next trial, unlike the first, to be open to the public.

"Despite this positive news, we as a family are deeply disappointed that Paul's killers and those who ordered this vicious crime are still at large two years after the fact," the family said in a statement. "A crime like this should not remain unsolved for so long."

Prosecutors claimed the defendants, Kazbek Dukuzov, 32, and Musa Vakhayev, 42, had killed Klebnikov on behalf of a Chechen separatist leader Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, who was the subject of a critical book by the victim and remains at large.

After a jury acquitted the defendants in May, both prosecutors and lawyers for the Klebnikov family appealed the verdict.

"We were deeply shocked by the numerous apparent violations that occurred during the course of the trial, so we are certainly very pleased with this result," Michael Klebnikov said. "The Supreme Court evidently found our appeals to be based on solid ground and we are pleased with that."

Klebnikov's killing highlighted the threat faced by journalists in Russia, which ranks as the most deadly country for journalists after Iraq and Algeria, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Shrinking media freedom in Russia was highlighted again last month by the killing of Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative reporter who uncovered abuses against civilians in Chechnya.