New trial is ordered in killing of U.S. reporter

MOSCOW —  The Russian Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the acquittal of three suspects in the 2004 slaying of American investigative journalist Paul Klebnikov and ordered a new trial.

In May, a jury acquitted two ethnic Chechens charged as contract killers and a third man accused of being linked to the slaying. Prosecutors appealed, which is possible under Russian law after a verdict of not guilty.

Many observers were skeptical of the government’s case against the Chechens, Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev, and the third defendant, Moscow notary public Fail Sadretdinov.

Klebnikov’s family praised the ruling.

The Supreme Court’s action “confirms that blatant procedural irregularities took place in the lower courts, and that these cannot be ignored,” said a statement issued by Klebnikov’s widow, Musa, and his brothers Michael and Peter Klebnikov and sister Anna Brinsmade.

“The high court’s willingness to review and rectify the many errors of the trial shows that Russia’s legal system has the ability to monitor itself,” the statement said. “For our family, it means that despite all the delays, we may yet see justice served.”

Klebnikov, who was editor of Forbes magazine’s newly launched Russian edition, was shot from a car as he walked home from work. Fellow journalist Alexander Gordeyev, who reached Klebnikov as he lay bleeding on the sidewalk, said he told him that the gunmen looked Russian.

The trial was held behind closed doors, making it difficult to judge the strength of the prosecution’s evidence or the suspects’ defense. Prosecutors said the closed trial was necessary to protect the methods used to gather evidence in the case.

Klebnikov’s family urged that the retrial be open to the public. “Only in this way can the numerous failures that characterized the first trial be avoided,” the statement said.

The family also expressed disappointment that “those who ordered this crime are still at large two years after the fact.”

Igor Korotkov, a lawyer for Dukuzov, said Thursday that his client was innocent. “We do not doubt an eventual acquittal,” he told reporters, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

Prosecutors say the defendants carried out a contract killing ordered by Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, a Chechen businessman and alleged organized crime figure turned separatist leader. Klebnikov had written a book critical of Nukhayev, whose whereabouts are unknown.

Some observers think Klebnikov was more likely killed by someone worried about what he would write in the future. Others suggested the slaying could have been related to his critical reporting on wealthy Russians or his investigations of corruption in business and government.

david.holley@latimes.com