VZCZCXRO1507
RR RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #1685/01 1800907
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 290907Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3990

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 001685 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR DOJ 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM RS
SUBJECT: SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS ACQUITTAL OF POLITKOVSKAYA 
DEFENDANTS 
 
REF: MOSCOW 422 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: On June 25, Russia's Supreme Court 
overturned the February acquittal of three men charged with 
the murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya, 
citing serious procedural violations, and ordered a retrial. 
The defendants' lawyers called the decision "political," and 
stated publicly their intention to appeal the decision. 
Assuming the defense appeal is unsuccessful, the case will 
now be sent back for a new trial with a new judge and new 
jury.  The earliest possible date would be the fall of 2009, 
but no date has yet been set.  Lawyers representing 
Politkovskaya's family did not support the Supreme Court's 
decision, saying that the verdict had been logical given the 
lack of evidence against the defendants.  Human rights 
defenders supported the use of a jury trial in February, and 
respected the jury's decision, but continue to lament the 
lack of justice for Politkovskaya's real killers.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) On June 25, Russia's Supreme Court overturned the 
February acquittal of three men charged with the murder of 
Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya (reftel) and 
ordered a retrial.  Two Chechen brothers, Dzhabrail and 
Ibragim Makhmudov, along with former Moscow policeman Sergey 
Khadzhikurbanov, were cleared of offering the killer 
operational support.  The fourth defendant, Pavel Ryaguzov, a 
lieutenant colonel in the FSB, was acquitted in a separate 
but joined case.  The alleged triggerman, Rustam Makhmudov, 
remains at large, and is suspected to be abroad. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Vera Pashkovskaya, one of the prosecutors in the 
case, told us June 25 that the verdict was overturned on the 
grounds of "serious procedural violations" during the trial, 
the only grounds recognized under Russian law for reversing a 
jury verdict.  She identified, among others, the following 
procedural violations: 
-- The defense lawyers introduced inadmissible evidence, 
including evidence related to the personal characteristics of 
the defendants, and asked improper questions.  The judge 
failed to properly instruct the jury not to take this 
evidence into account; 
-- The judge's behavior in opening the trial, then closing 
the trial, then opening it after a public dispute with one of 
the jurors prejudiced the jury against the prosecution. 
Specifically, the prosecutors had originally sought a closed 
trial, and when the judge eventually closed it, falsely 
blaming the jury, this prejudiced the jury against the 
prosecution; 
-- The defense and the judge discussed procedural issues in 
the presence of the jury. 
 
¶4. (U) The defendants' lawyers called the decision 
"political," and stated publicly their intention to appeal 
the decision.  Under Russian law, they can appeal to the 
supervisory body (nadzornaya instantsiya) of the Supreme 
Court, but these appeals are rarely successful.  Assuming the 
defense appeal is unsuccessful, the case will now be sent 
back for a new trial with a new judge and new jury.  (Note: 
Approximately 40 percent of jury acquittals are overturned on 
appeal.  End Note.)  No date has yet been set; gazeta.ru 
reported on June 25 that the earliest possible date would be 
the fall of 2009.  Such a trial would be contingent on 
finding the defendants, who at this point may be fugitives. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Lawyers representing Politkovskaya's family, Karinna 
Moskalenko and Anna Stavitskaya, did not support the appeal 
to the Supreme Court for a retrial.  Stavitskaya told us June 
26 that the February verdict had been "perfectly logical" 
given the lack of evidence against the defendants, and that 
there was no basis for an appeal.  Sergey Sokolov, Deputy 
Editor in Chief of Novaya Gazeta, told us that the case "has 
little, if anything, to do with these figures," and that what 
interested him above all was determining who gave the order 
for the killing.  Among Politkovskaya's supporters, there is 
no consensus as to the guilt or innocence of the defendants. 
Most, like Sokolov, believe that they were at least 
tangentially involved, and some, such as Politkovskaya's son 
Ilya, believe that they were central to the plot. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Human rights activists greeted the decision with the 
same ambivalence that they felt when the acquittal took 
place.  Just as in February, when activists supported what 
they saw as a successful example of a jury trial, but felt 
frustration at the lack of justice served, so our contacts 
now have mixed feelings about the latest development. 
Simonov told us that it was "disappointing" to see another 
example of the system's lack of trust in jury trials, but 
 
MOSCOW 00001685  002 OF 002 
 
 
that the decision was good for Politkovskaya's family, as 
"the official version of this case is idiotic," and this may 
afford another opportunity to uncover the truth.  Lev 
Ponomarev of For Human Rights told us June 26 that it was 
"clear" that "this is a group of fall guys," and that it was 
unfortunate that investigators have failed to establish any 
connection to the special services, who he feels were 
undoubtedly involved in the murder.  According to Ponomarev, 
in the most likely scenario the new trial will lead to a 
guilty verdict, and "then they will forget the whole thing" 
without further investigation into the person or people who 
ordered the killing. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) The reversal of the Polikovskaya verdict is not a 
surprise.  Approximately 40 percent of Russian jury 
acquittals are reversed, and this trial was, by all accounts, 
marred by serious procedural errors.  The real question now 
is whether the defendants can be located and brought to 
trial, or whether the case will be suspended due to their 
fugitive status, as appears to have happened in the Paul 
Klebnikov case.  While some of Politkovskaya's supporters 
have criticized investigators for pursuing the lowest level 
conspirators, rather than those who commissioned the murder, 
the two are not mutually exclusive.  In fact, often the only 
way to get to the top rung of a conspiracy is by working up 
the ladder through prosecutions of lower level members.  The 
reversal gives the prosecutors another chance to start this 
process, assuming that he case is not simply forgotten.  Post 
recommends that we continue to draw high-level attention to 
this case by calling on the GOR to use all appropriate 
measures to apprehend and prosecute all those responsible. 
BEYRLE