Pichugin's case in the Supreme Court

On October 23 at 9:30 a session of the Presidium of the Supreme Court will begin on the issue of annulment of the verdict on former Yukos employee Alexei Pichugin in his first criminal case. Pichugin is serving a life sentence on charges of organizing murder and attempted murder.

Earlier, the Supreme Court scheduled a meeting of the Presidium on the Pichugin case for October 2, but it was postponed without explanation.

Russia's highest court had to decide whether the decision of the European Court of Human Rights served as a basis for overturning the sentence . According to it, Pichugin was deprived of the right to a fair trial, enshrined in Article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. "The most appropriate type of compensation would be, in principle, a new trial or a reopening of the proceedings," the ECtHR said in its decision.

The ECHR considered the most significant violation that Pichugin's trial was held behind closed doors: the presence in the case file of operational information containing state secrets "cannot automatically lead to the closure of the hearings," the ECHR verdict noted.

The European Court saw a violation in the fact that Pichugin's defense was not allowed to fully interrogate the main witness for the prosecution - Igor Korovnikov, convicted of murder and rape. His testimony proved Pichugin's guilt. The ECHR ruled to correct the violations and recover from Russia in favor of Pichugin 9,500 euros as compensation for moral damages and legal costs.

According to Pichugin's lawyer Ksenia Kostromina, the decision of the ECtHR stated that these and other violations could be corrected only within the framework of a new trial. The decision of the Strasbourg Court entered into force in January of this year, and the defense filed a petition addressed to the President of the Supreme Court to annul the verdict in connection with the identified violations. Kostromina believes that the first case of her client will be sent for a new consideration to the Moscow City Court from the stage of preliminary hearings. The lawyer hopes that this will lead to changes in the second case as well. A complaint related to him is currently pending before the ECtHR.

In March, the Supreme Court requested the verdict of the Moscow City Court of 2005 in connection with the decision of the Strasbourg Court. Chairman of the Supreme Court Vyacheslav Lebedev demanded that the presidium of the highest court consider the case in a supervisory procedure. "In connection with the decision of the ECHR, the chairman of the Supreme Court made a submission to the presidium of the court in this criminal case for the resumption of proceedings in view of the new circumstances," the spokeswoman said.