The second witness in "Khudyakov-Arakcheev's case" stated that he had slandered his commander

On Friday, the North-Caucasian Regional Military Court continued interrogation of prosecution witnesses in the case of two officers of Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federations accused of murdering peaceful residents in Chechnya. For about two and a half hours, the Court interrogated witness Anatoly Golovin - former serviceman of the scout squadron, where senior lieutenant Evgeniy Khudyakov was the commander. Earlier, at the preliminary investigation, Mr. Golovin had evidenced in support of Khudyakov's guilt.

Now, Golovin has declared, similar to witness Denis Melov, interrogated on Thursday that he had slandered his commander and gave evidences requested by the Public Prosecutor's Office under pressure, the NEWSru.com reports.

Earlier on Thursday, witness Melov, former subordinate of defendant Khudyakov, asked for a pardon for slandering his commander. He noted that had slandered Khudyakov and Sergey Arakcheev intending "to quit the army and get home as soon as possible." Melov also noted that had signed interrogation protocols because he was beaten.

The "Caucasian Knot" has informed earlier that on January 15, 2003, Khudyakov and Arakcheev were in command of a scout group engaged in a special mission near the airport "Severny." They blocked one of the roads with an armoured troop-carrier ("BTR") and stopped a passing "Volga" car and detained the driver. After a while, a KAMAZ truck appeared on the road. The indictment states that Evgeniy Khudyakov had shot dead the driver and two passengers. The militaries then put the bodies into the truck, poured gasoline over and set it on fire.