Translated material
The jury in the case of the “Coastal Partisans” could not be formed again
A panel of jurors in the high-profile case of the so-called “Primorsky partisans” could not be formed for the fourth time on Wednesday in the Primorsky Territory court.
“The next meeting on the formation of the board is scheduled for November 20,” Maria Litovchenko, press secretary of the regional court, told the Interfax agency.
On Wednesday, 25 candidates appeared in court, but it was not possible to form a panel, since three candidates recused themselves, and another four were given unmotivated challenges, Litovchenko explained.
Previous attempts failed due to low turnout of jury candidates. In September, when the third attempt was made to form a collegium, 24 candidate jurors appeared in court, but during the selection process, two received a reasoned challenge, and one candidate recused himself.
During the formation of the panel, 12 main jurors and eight alternates must be selected. The maximum period for forming a jury has not been determined.
In total, there are 6 people in the dock in the partisan case: Alexander and Vadim Kovtun, Roman Savchenko, Maxim Kirillov, Vladimir Ilyutikov and Alexey Nikitin. All of them are accused of serious crimes: banditry, murder of two or more persons, robbery, theft of documents and actions related to the illegal trafficking of weapons and explosives. The defendants are accused of murdering police officers and plotting against government officials.
According to investigators, in 2009 the defendants formed a gang that attacked law enforcement officers, whom they said they considered “bandits.” On June 11, 2010, gang members were blocked in an apartment in one of the houses in the center of Ussuriysk. Two of them shot themselves during the siege, the rest were detained and will face trial by jury.