Moscow jury says no one demanded secret trial

Washington Post:

The trial of three men accused of helping to organize the murder of one of Russia's most prominent investigative reporters, Anna Politkovskaya, took a surprise turn Thursday as a juror publicly challenged the court's decision to hold the proceedings behind closed doors.

The judge, Yevgeny Zubov, had ordered the trial closed a day earlier, saying members of the jury had refused to participate if reporters were allowed in the courtroom. But a man who identified himself as one of the jurors stepped forward Thursday and disputed the judge's explanation.

"None of us demanded in any categorical form that the press must not attend. I can definitely say that," the juror, Yevgeny Kolesov, said in remarks broadcast on Echo Moskvy radio station. Kolesov, a roofer, said that a court official had tried several times to persuade the jury to sign a statement requesting a closed trial but that the jurors all refused.

The disclosure was a rare act of defiance in a judicial system weighted heavily in favor of state control. It threw the trial into disarray and added to the questions that have dogged the government's investigation of Politkovskaya's killing, which sparked international outrage and concern over the safety of journalists in Russia.

Prosecutors had been scheduled to begin presenting evidence, but the judge adjourned the trial until Dec. 1, citing a scheduling conflict that defense lawyers said did not exist.

Politkovskaya, a fierce Kremlin critic known for her reports on human rights abuses in the restive Russian republic of Chechnya, was shot to death as she entered her Moscow apartment building Oct. 7, 2006. More than two years later, police have yet to arrest the gunman or identify who ordered and financed the attack, which investigators describe as a contract killing.

The shooting occurred on the birthday of then-President Vladimir Putin, fueling speculation about a possible official role in the crime, perhaps involving members of the security services angered by Politkovskaya's reporting.

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It appears that the jurors are refusing the fix that the Putin team thought they had in place. This is extraordinary in Russia and probably very dangerous. This murder has always had a smell about it and I am not surprised that the regime would want to limit publicity about the trial. They will have to come up with another excuse now.