The Moscow City Court postponed the hearing on Wednesday in the case of the murder of Paul Khlebnikov

Thursday, April 9, 2020

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The Moscow City Court postponed the hearing on Wednesday in the case of the murder of Paul Khlebnikov, an editor of the Russian-language version of the magazine Forbes. Larisa Maslennikova who represents the Khlebnikov family, told Itar-Tass that the court had satisfied the prosecutor's petition in which he called for sending a statement to Moscow's Bar on a breach of ethics by Ruslan Koblev, a lawyer of defendant Fail Sadretdinov. The Moscow City Court began to review the Khlebnikov case on the merits on Tuesday. On December 29, the Court formed a panel of jurors to examine the case. Paul Khlebnikov, 40, was gunned down on July 9, 2004. The killers waited for him in a car with changed license plates near the office of the company Springer Russia on Moscow’s Dokukin Street. The journalist was going to an underground station when he was gunned down. Investigators ascertained that a mastermind of the murder of Khlebnikov was Chechnya’s resident Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev. The investigators who traced the crime to a group of hitmen, also believe that this group was complicit in the murder of Chechnya’s former deputy prime minister Yan Sergunin in June 2004 and the attempt on the life of businessman Pichugin. Three other people accused of killing Khlebnikov, including Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, have been put on the federal police wanted list. According to the prosecutor’s office, killers of Khlebnikov were Kazbek Dukuzov, his brother Magomed, as well as Musa Vakhayev, Magomed Edilsultanov and others. Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev were detained in Belarus' capital Minsk in October 2004. The criminal group was set up in Moscow in 2002 with the aim of extortion and contract hits. Moscow-based notary Fail Sadretdinov is among the defendants. He is accused of shopping a contract on businessman Pichugin. The trial is held behind closed doors as the case contains top secret materials.

Bookmark The Moscow City Court postponed the hearing on Wednesday in the case of the murder of Paul Khlebnikov