Vyacheslav Ivankov is finally justified

The highest court confirmed the innocence of the Japanese in the case of Vyacheslav Ivankov, known in criminal circles like a Japanese, a point was set. Yesterday, the highest court - the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia - confirmed the legality of the jury verdict, which recognized Ivankov to the murder of two Turkish workers that were not involved in a 14 years ago.

The last attempt to achieve the cancellation of the acquittal of the verdict was made by the Russian Prosecutor General. It was she who, after the failure of her colleagues from the Moscow prosecutor's office, sent a cassation performance in the order of supervision with a request for a revision of the case.

At the meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Court, the 66-year-old Ivankov did not come, as, indeed, his relatives. The lawyer of the ex-defendant, Alexander Gofstein, only mysteriously smiled, assuring that he did not know where his client was, and claiming that he was "holding a telephone connection with him."

Recall, on July 18, 2005, the college of jury of the Moscow City Court unanimously justified Ivankov, who was accused of killing two Turkey citizens and attempted murder of the third in 1992. The Japanchik, extradited from the United States to Russia after the departure of the 9 -year period (there he was convicted of extortion and a fictitious marriage. - "Gazeta") and who had been in Russia for another year, was released in the courtroom. And on July 21, on the basis of a jury verdict, the Moscow City Court passed an acquittal.

Immediately after this, a loud scandal erupted: acting Moscow prosecutor Vladimir Bakun said that the jury could not be impartial - 7 out of 12 jury supposedly had a criminal past. This was the main argument of the prosecutor's office, which required the revision of the case. However, on December 14, the Supreme Court of Russia recognized the verdict legal.

The Prosecutor General’s Office tried to use the same trump card yesterday. On her behalf, the deputy prospector Sergei Fridinsky spoke. “Information about the identity of the jury became known only after the verdict was issued and was not known in court,” he told 12 members of the Presidium, who had met the chairman of the Supreme Court Vyacheslav Lebedev. Friedinsky noted that the jury was the selection of tendentious: candidates hid information about their criminal record, as well as that their relatives were prosecuted.

In response, Alexander Gofstein said that all participants in the process had the opportunity to declare diverts to candidates. "The prosecutor did not ask the candidates when the selection whether they or their close relatives were brought to criminal liability. The question was asked whether they were convicted or not," the lawyer noted. "You worked as you wanted. Nobody hid anything from you!" - He indicated the deputy prosecutor general. Touching on the arguments of the prosecutor’s office that the court allegedly illegally excluded a number of evidence from the case file, the defender dwell on the photobot of the alleged criminal. “The materials of the criminal case is not an album for drawing and not a book on painting,” the defender said instructively. “This is not a photobot, but a regular drawing! The court excluded this proof on legally.” “The jury verdict is justified and made without procedural violations,” the lawyer summed up.

Half an hour later, Vyacheslav Lebedev announced the decision of the Presidium, who expressed solidarity with the position of protection.

“Justice has triumphed,” the decision of the last court, Alexander Gofstein, commented on the newspaper. According to him, despite the fact that his client has the full right to apply to the court for compensation for damage in connection with illegal criminal prosecution, Vyacheslav Ivankov is unlikely to do this. “He is not used to complaining,” his lawyer explained. “He is not young and not at all healthy. I believe that now Vyacheslav Kirillovich will take care of his health.”

04/10/2006 / Maria Lokotetsk material published in the newspaper No. 62 dated 04/11/2006.