Russians can replace prison with the death penalty

process
Yesterday, lawyers for two Russians accused of murdering Zelimkhan Yandarbiev filed an appeal against the decision of a Qatari court that sentenced them to life imprisonment two weeks ago. Kommersant special correspondent MIKHAIL ZYGAR, who visited Qatar, was convinced that Moscow’s decision to challenge the court’s decision could worsen the situation of the prisoners: Qatari justice does not like it so much when people argue with it that in the end the Russians could be sentenced to death.

"Remember, it's over"

It's unbearable in Doha right now. Six months ago, when the trial of the Russians was just beginning, the weather was hot, but still tolerable. At that time, however, many believed that the scandal would be short-lived. Now the situation is much worse - +50°C with 100% humidity. Going outside is already hard labor. Or “Katarga”, as the Russian-speaking inhabitants of the emirate joke.
They say, however, that the conditions in which the Russians found guilty of the murder of Zelimkhan Yandarbiev are kept are not so bad. Their solitary cells are air-conditioned (unlike police stations, which only have ceiling fans). Once a day they are allowed a walk - alone. Given the current weather, however, it is not clear whether this is a good thing. Among the complaints: one of the prisoners smokes, but the guards do not give him matches or a lighter. Every time you have to light a cigarette from the law enforcement officer.
However, not only they, but also all employees of the Russian embassy in Doha are in such a difficult situation. With the beginning of the process in Qatar, an instruction came from Moscow prohibiting all Russians from leaving their homes without apparent need—for more than six months, Russians in Doha have actually been living in a state of siege.
Some of them hoped that this imprisonment would end with the end of the trial. However, the legal process in Qatar is quite bizarre: within a month after the verdict, the prosecutor's office has the right to appeal. The time allotted for this defense is half as much - only two weeks.
Since the defense representatives were quite vague about their actions for a long time, when I arrived in Doha, I went to the local prosecutor general’s office. Since the beginning of the process, the situation here has changed dramatically: Qatar simply calmed down and again stopped fighting terrorism. If before, entering the building required a lot of effort, now “a man of European appearance” (this is how witnesses in the Yandarbiev case described the killers) was allowed into the Prosecutor General’s Office without questions.
The course of the trial greatly affected the work of the prosecutor's office - apparently, the Qatari authorities were completely dissatisfied with the trial. At least the prosecutor who led the “Russian case” paid for it with his position: he used to head the department for issues related to national security, and now the sign on the door of his former office is missing.
“He was demoted,” his former assistant, who retained his place, explains guiltily, “I mean, he was transferred from the fourth floor to the second. Now he works in the capital’s prosecutor’s office... But he is still working on the Yandarbiev murder case - he ordered to complete it."
The disgraced prosecutor himself was afraid to meet with the press, but his subordinates turned out to be more talkative.
“Well, this is an internal matter of Qatar,” an employee of the prosecutor’s office, Baker Hamdi, explained to me. “If Russian lawyers think that international law was violated here, then they must understand that if a crime was committed on our territory, then we will prosecute according to our own laws and respect first of all our law, and only then international law.
In addition, Baker Hamdi said that the Russian side has not filed any appeals and, most likely, does not intend to. In his opinion, the Russian side has nothing to oppose to the Qatari court. Our conversation took place on July 13—exactly five months after the murder of Zelimkhan Yandarbiev and on the penultimate day of filing the defense’s appeal against the decision of the Qatari court.
When I asked him to give me the opportunity to talk to the prosecutor, Baker Hamdi asked: “Why do you need this? If you want, you can leave the questions in writing. But there will still be no answer. You know, sometimes no reaction is the best reaction. Remember, this matter is already over."

Trial over Russia

However, many in Qatar still believe that the work of the two Russian spies is not over yet.
“You know, here in Qatar, from the very beginning, they did everything possible to reduce interest in this case,” says one of the most famous presenters of the Al-Jazeera TV channel, Tawfik Taher. “No one gave us the opportunity to fully cover this scandal, because everyone hoped to somehow extinguish it. The Qatari authorities may be trying to somehow maintain their relations with the Russians, if they need it. And vice versa. But we know that just because nothing is reported about this case does not mean that nothing is happening. It’s just that the Russian authorities are probably trying to resolve this in their own way.
Al-Jazeera TV channel, based in Qatar, is closely following the process. And although it is reported quite rarely for various reasons, all journalists are very interested in the case.
“What shocked me most was that the judge openly blamed the Russian authorities,” says Rebecca Smith, who edits Al Jazeera’s English-language website, “after all, at the last hearing, the judge said that it was the Russian government that ordered the murder of Zelimkhan Yandarbiev. This is so harsh! How can the Russian authorities continue any negotiations with the Qatari ones after this? After all, this means that they actually admit their guilt. That is, Vladimir Putin had a trial in Doha and he was found guilty! How can he tolerate this?

By law and by concept

Indeed, until the very last moment, the Russian side could not figure out how best to sort out relations with the Qataris: according to the law or according to concepts (that is, behind-the-scenes diplomatic methods). Both methods turned out to be quite ineffective. In addition, in the first case, Moscow risked the lives and freedom of its citizens, and in the second, its reputation, because it actually agreed with the Qatari verdict.
Qatari lawyer Mohsen al-Suwaidi, who represents the interests of the Russians in court, received permission from Moscow to file an appeal only at the very last moment - the deadline expired on July 14. And the night before, he himself, obviously, did not know what to do, and intelligently apologized to me, explaining that he would be glad, but could not clarify the situation: instructions from Moscow strictly prohibit him from communicating with journalists. In response to my direct question whether Russia really decided not to file an appeal, the lawyer shrugged and said: “I can’t tell you anything. At least, I’ll definitely always be with my clients.”
The final decision, apparently, was made only yesterday - Russian diplomats were unable to achieve the desired concessions, and they decided to continue the litigation. However, according to experts in the Qatari judicial system, this development of events does not bode well for Russia.
“It’s the custom in Qatar that if lawyers file an appeal, the prosecutor’s office does the same,” former Qatari Justice Minister Najib al-Nuaimi told Kommersant. “And it happens that the prosecution’s appeals are satisfied more readily than the defense’s.” In my practice there was such a case: there was a trial on a case of espionage - imagine, not even a murder case, as in this case! The trial court sentenced the accused to life imprisonment. And the appeal changed the sentence to death! How can this be? This is how funny the court in Qatar is!
According to Najib al-Nuaimi’s forecast, further events may develop like this. The Court of Appeal will begin hearing appeals no earlier than October - hearings will last until December or January, taking into account the break for Ramadan. Then, after a verdict is reached, the case can likely be appealed to the Supreme Court. Now it does not yet exist in Qatar, but by the end of the process it should be created - according to the new laws, it is planned to be formed in October. And only after this the verdict can be reviewed (and possibly revised) by the emir personally.
The Russian side has never hidden that it places its main hopes on this stage: a personal petition to the emir still seems more promising than an attempt to achieve justice in the appellate court. In other words, while continuing to resolve the issue “according to the law,” Moscow hopes that the final word will still be said “according to concepts.”
However, the former Minister of Justice of Qatar is not at all sure that these hopes of Moscow will come true:
“Qatar has made tough political decisions more than once, without fear of consequences. Instead of passing a verdict on the two people present in the courtroom, the judge found the entire Russian state guilty of that murder. It was very strange. And where is the guarantee that this will not happen again? Who said that Qatar even wants to negotiate with Russia?
MIKHAIL J-ZYGAR

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 127 dated July 15, 2004, p. 1

Authors:

Mikhail Zygar

Themes:

The most Qatari court in the world