Prosecutor to specify requested sentence to rights lawyer killers

MOSCOW, May 5 (Itar-Tass) - The prosecutor at the Moscow City Court on
Thursday will name the punishment that he considers fair for Nikita
Tikhonov and Yevgeniya Khasis whom the jury found guilty of murder of
lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova.
The court will discuss the legal implications of the jury verdict.
Materials may be presented at the meeting that could not be investigated
in the presence of jurors, for example, the characterising data. Then the
representative of the state prosecution will name the term to which he
requests Judge Alexander Zamashnyuk to sentence the defendants. Then the
defence side will speak and the defendants will be able to express their
views on the upcoming sentence. However, they cannot question the guilty
verdict, but only discuss issues relating to qualification of the crime,
sentencing and the physical evidence.
After Tikhonov and Khasis make their last plea the judge with withdraw
to the deliberations room for the imposition of the sentence,
preliminarily naming the date of its announcement.
Earlier, the jury after spending several hours in the conference room,
recognised Tikhonov and Khasis guilty and not deserving leniency. Also,
the jury recognised both defendants guilty of the purchase and possession
of the Browning pistol from which the lawyer was shot. The jury delivered
a unanimous guilty verdict on the episode in which Tikhonov and Khasis
were also charged with possessing other weapons: pistols, homemade pistols
and a revolver, a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a number of explosive
devices. Tikhonov was also found guilty of using forged documents.
Lawyer of Inter-Republican Bar Moscow Markelov and Novaya Gazeta
string correspondent Baburova were shot to death on January 19, 2009. An
unidentified gunman attacked Markelov, 34, and Baburova, 25 in
Prechistenka Street near the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in downtown
Moscow. They were returning from a news conference. Baburova, a 5th-year
student at the MGU department of journalism, died in hospital. She covered
nationalism and neo-nazism.
Nikita Tikhonov and Yevgeniya Khasis were arrested in November 2009.
The suspects denied their guilt.
According to the investigators, the motive behind the murder was
"intolerance and ideological hate, as well as the hate the suspects felt
toward the lawyer's professional activity to protect the rights and
freedoms of persons who supported the anti-Nazi ideology."
Tikhonov used a 7.65mm Browning to commit the murder. He fired two
shots at Markelov and one at Baburova. Markelov died on the spot, and
Baburova was rushed to hospital, but her gunshot wound proved lethal. The
Prosecutor General's Office said the murder had been committed together
with unidentified members of an organized group who shared neo-Nazi and
nationalist views.
"According to the investigators, the defendants committed the crime
because of Markelov's active participation in the anti-nazi movement and
his professional activity to protect persons who supported the anti-Nazi
ideology. Baburova was killed with the view of concealing the crime, as an
eye-witness," Investigative Committee (SK) spokesman Vladimir Markin said
earlier.