Translated material
Drug withdrawal
The jury in the case of the attempt on Chubais was again disbanded
The consideration of the case of the assassination attempt on the head of RAO UES Anatoly Chubais in the Moscow Regional Court will begin anew, for the third time. Yesterday, the presiding judge at the trial, by his decision, dissolved the jury, which had worked for almost a year. The reason for the dissolution was the sudden revelation of serious health problems with one of the assessors, who, as it unexpectedly turned out, was allegedly registered at a drug treatment clinic.The challenge of this juror in the absence of alternates became the reason for the dissolution of the entire panel. Exactly a year ago, in December 2006, a similar fate befell the previous board that considered this case for the first time. Both the prosecution and defense were dissatisfied with the dissolution. And representatives of the latter even announced their determination to appeal this decision of the judge in the Supreme Court. Nevertheless, the process will most likely begin again again. The date for selecting new jurors has already been set - December 27.
In the dock in this case are retired GRU colonel Vladimir Kvachkov (pictured) and two of his acquaintances from among the former paratroopers - Alexander Naydenov and Robert Yashin. Another accused, Ivan Mironov, is still formally under investigation. He was detained later, and his case was separated into separate proceedings.
On March 17, 2005, at the exit from the village of Zhavoronki, Odintsovo district, Moscow region, on the route of Anatoly Chubais’s motorcade, a mine was detonated, and then the cars of the head of RAO UES and the escort were fired upon. However, no one was hurt. The investigation concluded that the crime was organized by Colonel Kvachkov and his associates, who acted “on the basis of extremist views and hostility towards Chubais.” Even at the first hearing, all three expressed a desire to have their case tried by a jury.
The trial of Kvachkov, Naydenov and Yashin began in May 2006. However, at first the court was unable to select a jury for several months, and when it finally succeeded, the panel was dissolved two months later. For various reasons, several jurors dropped out of the trial, resulting in all the alternate jurors being “used up.” And then it suddenly turned out that “the jury foreman presented false information about his financial situation in order to obtain an increased salary for the juror.” He was recused, and the board had to be dissolved.
The formal reason for the dissolution of the current board was also, as one of the participants in the process put it, “force majeure circumstances.” The juror, who missed several hearings, as it unexpectedly turned out, could not perform this function from the very beginning. The woman, number 10 on the list of assessors, turned out to be registered at a drug dispensary. Since there were no more alternate jurors left (the judge had previously granted the requests of two jurors to be disqualified), the panel lost its quorum.
The story with Juror No. 10 turned out to be very mysterious and became the logical conclusion of the events of recent months. Back in the summer, the “second” jury in the Kvachkov case began having problems with attendance at its meetings. On July 3, three jurors did not appear for the hearing at once, and there was no quorum at the next hearing. Then the judge announced a break until September, apparently deciding to give the assessors a rest and finish their dacha business (there were many pensioners on the panel). On September 10, the board met, but instead of the essence of the criminal case, they then had to discuss certain brochures received by mail by some jurors, in which Anatoly Chubais was criticized. The last time all 12 assessors met was on September 19, after which a quorum could not be assembled.
The court, in order not to waste time, has since tried to consider procedural and technical issues at sessions for which the presence of a jury is not required, and has resolved the issue of “searching” for jurors. First, the judge, by his decision, forced Juror No. 7 to attend the hearings - the woman had moved to a new job, wanted to get involved in it closely and leave the trial that was boring her. Having solved this problem, Mr. Kozlov discovered another “hard truant” - number 10, also a woman. The judge made a request to the police at the jury's place of residence to find out the reasons for her absence. In response, a report came in according to which the woman’s son told the police officers conducting the check that his 45-year-old mother abused alcohol. The judge made a request and received a confirmation certificate from the drug dispensary.
Kvachkov’s defense objected to the dissolution of the board because, according to the lawyers, the ill-fated certificate did not have the necessary seals and signatures, and the woman herself, when she finally appeared in court, stated that she was not registered anywhere. Nevertheless, the judge decided to dissolve.
Participants in the trial commented sparingly on the situation yesterday. Anatoly Chubais' representative, lawyer Andrei Shugaev, expressed the opinion that the failure of the jury to appear was a consequence of the tactics chosen by the lawyers of Kvachkov and his comrades. “People are just tired of coming in empty-handed and waiting for them to start working, which is understandable,” he said. - But as for the challenge of the last juror, here we presented a united front with the defense. We also did not want the dissolution of the board; we feel sorry for the work done. And now all over again.”
Kvachkov’s defender Aleftin Moshansky, on the contrary, suggested that the dissolution of the board was the result of the activities of opponents. “We foresaw that the dissolution of the board was possible. The prosecutor's office has already finished presenting its materials, but has not been able to present evidence of Kvachkov's guilt. They had no chance to convince this board, and the only option left was dissolution,” he said.
Elections for the new board have already been scheduled for December 27. However, when it will actually start working, the participants in the process did not even dare to guess.