Russia
Klebnikov trial postponed, defendant missingPosted Apr 20 2007
The Moscow City Court has decided to postpone the second trial of two men who have been convicted of the killing of Forbes Russia editor Paul Klebnikov after defendant Kazbek Dukuzov went missing. Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev have been accused of killing the U.S. journalist on a Moscow street in July 2004. Citing illness and family reasons, neither defendant was in court on Feb. 15 when their retrial was scheduled to begin. Vakheyev was in court on March 14, but court officials postponed the trial until Dukuzov could be located. Defense lawyer Ruslan Koblev was quoted by several Russian reports saying that Dukuzov did not appear in court on March 14 because he was hospitalized in Chechnya. For more information visit www.cpj.org.