Ulman's lawyer to file a complaint in Strasburg Court on Human Rights

Ulman's lawyer is preparing a complaint to the Strasburg Court on Human Rights in connection with the Russian Constitutional Court ruling "on Ulman's case." In the opinion of lawyer Roman Krzhechkovski, the Constitutional Court ruling "grossly violates the right of all defendants to choose the form of court proceedings, in particular the jury court," reports "Novosti" news agency.

Captain Eduard Ulman, Ensign Vladimir Voevodin, Lieutenant Alexander Kalaganskiy and Major Alexei Perelevskiy are charged with murder, intentional destruction of property belonging to others and abuse of powers entailing serious consequences. According to state prosecution, in January 2002, special task force officers of the Main Intelligence Directorate (MID) detained an UAZ jeep in the vicinity of the Dai village of Shatoi district, Chechnya, in the course of a secret operation on capturing Khattab. There were six residents of Chechnya. The task force officers shot at the car, killed one passenger and wounded two more. The Chechens' documents proved to be in order, but, nevertheless, the remaining Chechens were shot dead and their bodies were burnt along with the jeep. The case of Ulman was heard twice by the North Caucasus military district tribunal and on both occasions the jury acquitted the defendants. The last acquittal was reversed by the Supreme Court Military Panel and the case was returned for reviewing by a new panel of judges. The hearing, however, was suspended because of the request filed in the Constitutional Court.