Advocates of convicts in Akhmedilov's murder case intend to challenge verdict of guilty

The defence of the persons sentenced in the case of the murder of journalist Abdulmalik Akhmedilov has announced the intention to challenge the verdict in the nearest future.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Abdulmalik Akhmedilov, the executive secretary of the newspaper "Istina" (Truth) and the editor of the newspaper "Sogratl", was killed in August 2009. According to prosecutors, the journalist was shot dead by Murad Shuaibov and his friend Isa Abdurakhmanov was driving a car. The both defendants pleaded not guilty. On March 30, the judge of the Lenin District Court of Makhachkala announced the verdict in the case of the murder of Abdulmalik Akhmedilov by founding the defendants guilty of the crime. Murad Shuaibov was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months of imprisonment, and Isa Abdurakhmanov to 8 years of imprisonment.

"We treat the verdict as groundless and the guilt of the defendants not proved. Both Shuaibov and Abdurakhmanov testified at the trial that they were not involved in the crime. The investigators and the court failed to prove their guilt, since the verdict is based only on the confession given at the preliminary investigation under torture," said Rustam Yunusov, an advocate of the defendants.

Let us remind you that the confession of Murad Shuaibov was recorded on video; however, during the trial, his defence insisted that the confession had been given under torture. According to colleagues of the murdered journalist, the investigation was conducted with violations, and law enforcers failed to use the capacities available to reveal all the circumstances of the incident.

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