The jury is afraid

The Moscow District Military Court, hearing the case of the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, at the last moment changed its decision on the nature of the hearings. On November 17, the court announced that the trial would be open, but on November 19 it turned out that it would still be held behind closed doors. The jury reportedly refused to enter the courtroom in the presence of journalists. On November 17, the judge promised that as soon as at least one juror reports that they were pressured, the trial will go into closed mode. True, there were no complaints about pressure from the jury, RIA Novosti reports.

It was said back in October, after the preliminary hearings, that the process could take place behind closed doors. The prosecutor's office insisted on this, claiming that there were secret materials in the case.

Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, where Politkovskaya worked, called the latest court decision a “disgrace.” In this way, in his opinion, the authorities “found a way to classify the activities of agents who are encountered at every step in the Politkovskaya murder case.”

Anna Politkovskaya was killed in Moscow in the fall of 2006. Suspects of organizing the murder, Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov and Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, and FSB officer Pavel Ryaguzov, accused of abuse of power and extortion, will appear in court.