Corrupt Russia closes Politkovskaya murder trial to public

The trial of four men charged over the 2006 murder of outspoken Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya will be held behind closed doors, a judge ruled on Wednesday, infuriating her family and lawyers.

"This trial will continue as a closed trial," Judge Yevgeny Zubov, who is presiding over the case in a Moscow military court, said at a trial hearing in which the four men including an ex-secret service officer pleaded not guilty.

"This is for the security of the participants in the trial, that of their relatives and their loved ones," Zubov said, adding that jury members had said they were too scared to appear in the courtroom in front of journalists.

Zubov had said at the opening of the trial on Monday that it should be open.

Wednesday's ruling sparked heated scenes as lawyers for both Politkovskaya's family and two of the defendants argued there were no grounds for closing the trial and said the decision would harm Russia's image abroad.

"I am very disappointed," one of the lawyers for Politkovskaya's family, Karinna Moskalenko, who is also a leading human rights advocate, told AFP as court officials asked reporters to leave the building.

LNK

Corrupt Russia closes Politkovskaya murder trial to public

Corrupt Russia closes Politkovskaya murder trial to public

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