Chechens to face closed jury trial for death of US journalist News
Chechens to face closed jury trial for death of US journalist

[JURIST] A Russian judge announced at a preliminary hearing Tuesday that three Chechens accused of murdering [JURIST report] US journalist Paul Klebnikov [Economist obituary] in July 2004 would be tried in front of a jury during closed sessions. The man the Russian prosecutor's office believes to have ordered the killings [JURIST report], Chechen rebel leader Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev [AFP profile], is still at large. Though the trial will not be open to the public because of the sensitivity of some of the evidence, the US State Department has been pushing for an open trial to "ensure transparency." Some believe that the murder was in retaliation for a book Klebnikov wrote about Nukhayev titled Conversations with a Barbarian; other observers suggest that the US journalist may have angered Soviets through his work for Forbes magazine's Russian edition, where he investigated corruption within the Soviet business world. AP has more.

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