19:09, 5 August 2011

The court declined the application of the defendant accused of Sviridov’s murder of dismissal of the jury

A trial on the case of Sviridov’s murder began in the Moscow city court today. The case is being tried by a jury which includes twelve main and eight reserve jurymen.

Aslan Cherkesov accused of murder of “Spartak” fan Yegor Sviridov last December in Moscow appealed to court to dismiss the jury considering that the information read out by Public prosecutor might be an obstacle to impartial consideration of the case. This solicitation was declined.

The reason for Cherkesov’s demand to dismiss the jury was that when reading out the theory of the indictment State prosecutor Maria Semenenko communicated some negative characteristics of his personality to the court which would not let the jury be impartial while trying the case.

The court declined Cherkesov’s appeal considering that the prosecuting party did not go beyond the indictment in its introductory statement.

Today the defendant entered a motion of recusation of prosecutor Maria Semenenko. Judge Andrey Rasnovsky considered the defendant’s arguments groundless.

Author: Julia Buslavskaya

Source: CK correspondent