06 December 2007, 21:14
Advocate: witnesses in Khudyakov and Arakcheev's case evidenced under pressure
At the trial held at the North-Caucasian Regional Military Court in Rostov-on-Don of Evgeniy Khudyakov and Sergey Arakcheev, accused of murdering peaceful residents of Chechnya, Dmitri Agranovskiy, one of Arakcheev's three advocates, has spoken at the parties' debate and asserted that the witnesses had testified under pressure.
Dmitri Agranovskiy has stated that "this criminal case requires an especially careful approach." The advocate started his speech with characterization of his client, having noticed that references of the command and colleagues about Sergey Arakcheev are exclusively positive. In Dmitri Agranovskiy's opinion, "the indictment lists improbable circumstances."
"The whole accusation is built on evidences of one witness - private named Tsupik," said Dmitri Agranovskiy. "None of the witnesses has ever asserted that he or she saw Arakcheev kills anyone. It follows from the materials of the case that after the incident on January 15, some 10 militaries were brought to the Military Prosecutor's Office. Later they told that they were interrogated under pressure.
In particular, Denis Melov has told that the inspector was beating his head with a bottle saying that if he did not give the required evidences, he would never leave Chechnya. Andrei Churin has stated at the trial that at the Prosecutor's Office they had drawn the layout of the incident and asked him to confirm it.
The soldiers have stated that they had been summoned to the Prosecutor's Office in the morning, kept there the whole day and were interrogated only at night; then, they had to return armless back into the disposition of their unit. They were given an alternative: either they evidence against Khudyakov and Arakcheev, or they would get imprisoned themselves."
Author: Elena Olenina, CK correspondent
