Trial Update

• Thanks to testimony, it was possible to expose the policeman Lyubichev and track down other accomplices of the terrorists.
• The trial will begin once the main defendants familiarize themselves with the case materials, which take up several dozen volumes.
• The state prosecution is expected to be represented by the Prosecutor General of Russia, Vladimir Ustinov, who handled a similar task at last year's trial of Salman Raduev.
• Participants in the investigation stated that none of the members of Achimez Gochiyayev's group had "personal scores with Russia"; neither they nor their relatives suffered during the hostilities in Chechnya and Dagestan, and they were not persecuted for political or religious beliefs.

Legal Proceedings

• A lawyer stated, "did not write this statement himself."
• At the end of his speech, he called all the witness testimony in the case contradictory and unconfirmed by anything.
• Leonid Lyubimov concluded, "We have Lyubichev's testimony, which has not been refuted by anything."
• He asked the court to acquit his client under Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Abuse of official powers") for lack of corpus delicti, arguing that "there is no causal link between the passage of the 'KamAZ' through the post in Kislovodsk and the bombings in Moscow."
• He also asked for acquittal under Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Bribe-taking") due to lack of evidence.

Next Steps

• The presiding judge scheduled Stanislav Lyubichev's final statement and the announcement of the verdict for May 14.

ALEKSANDRA LARINTSEVA, Kislovodsk