Court postpones appeal review in ex lawmaker murder case to May 25

MOSCOW, May 14 (Itar-Tass) - The Supreme Court on Friday postponed, to
May 25, the review of an appeal lodged by the persons convicted for the
murder of former State Duma lawmaker, hero of Russia Ruslan Yamadayev.
The court delayed the review as one of the lawyers submitted an
attachment to his petition too late, and the participants in the trial had
no time to familiarize themselves with it. Also, the attachment has to be
translated into Russian from Chechen, as one of the convicted persons does
not have a good command of Russian. A translator said he would require at
lest five days to translate a 75-page document.
Several lawyers failed to appear at the Friday hearing, saying that
their defendants had given them up. If necessary, the court will mull
appointing new lawyers.
The court has postponed the hearing several times already for various
reasons.
Ruslan Yamadayev, a Hero of Russia and a former State Duma lawmaker
was shot and killed on Smolenskaya Embankment in September 2008.
In October 2010, the Moscow City Court sentenced Chechnya native
Aslambek Dadayev to 20 years in jail, having found him guilty of killing
Yamadayev and involvement in the attempted murder of Chechnya's former
commandant Sergei Kizyun.
Elimpasha Khatsuyev, an accomplice to the crime who the court said had
taken the killer to the scene of crime and helped him escape, was
sentenced to 15 years.
Grozny resident Timor Isayev was sentenced to 14 years. He was accused
of attempted murder of Konvers Bank chairman of the board Alexander
Antonov.
The defendants' lawyers appealed against the verdict. All the
defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The investigators said "unidentified persons offered Dadayev and
Khatsuyev to murder former State Duma lawmaker Ruslan Yamadayev for
remuneration."
Having agreed, the defendants purchased firearms and began to tail the
victim, monitoring his daily routine and movements.
"On September 24, 2008, the defendants, in a BMW, drew up with a
Mercedes which had stopped at red light near House 10, Smolenskaya
Naberezhnaya (Street). Taking advantage of the fact that Sergei Kizyun,
who was on the front passenger seat, had the car window partially lowered,
Dadayev ran out of the BMW and fired at least 16 shots at the men in
Mercedes," spokesman for the Investigations Committee under the Prosecutor
General's Office (SKP) Vladimir Markin said.
The defendants fled the scene. Yamadayev died of his wounds on the
spot. Kizyun was rushed to hospital with serious wounds.
Ruslan Yamadayev was elder brother in the influential Yamadayev family
in Chechnya. In 2002-2003, he was head of the regional executive committee
of United Russia in Chechnya, and prior to that he was deputy commandant
of Chechnya.
On March 11, 2009, the same gang tried to assassinate chairman of
Konvers Bank board Alexander Antonov. Timur Isayev shot 18 times at the
businessman as he came out of the bank, inflicting very serious wounds on
him, but medics succeeded in saving the banker's life.