Geriev's defence accuses judges of conspiring with investigators

In Chechnya, during the court session, which considered the complaint against the verdict to Zhalaudi Geriev, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, his defence tried three times to challenge the panel of judges, arguing that they are interested in convicting the defendant. The court rejected all the challenges and postponed the session until December 9.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 15, the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya began considering the above complaint against the verdict to Geriev, imposed by the Shali District Court on September 5.

At the session on December 7, Nadezhda Ermakova, a Geriev's defender, moved a petition for sending a query to the mobile company – the owner of the phone numbers, from which SMS-messages were sent to Suleiman Gayirbekov about the upcoming actions of the prosecutor Baitaeva, and about the pressure on witnesses of Geriev's kidnapping. The query should be sent in order to identify the owner of the phone numbers and the author of the above SMS-messages sent to the Gayirbekov's phone.

The prosecutor asked the court to reject the petition, stating that there was no need of it, and treating it as a defence's attempt to protract the trial.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.