Russia sends Forbes editor murder case to trial

Reuters ^ | 21 Nov 2005

[ncountylee]

MOSCOW, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Russia is to put two Chechens accused of murdering U.S. magazine editor Paul Klebnikov in July 2004 on trial, prosecutors said on Monday.

Russia has been under increasing pressure from the United States to find those responsible for killing Klebnikov, editor of the Russian version of Forbes, who was shot dead in Moscow.

A statement published on the Prosecutor General's website (www.genproc.gov.ru) said the police investigation was over and the suspects would now face court.

"In the course of the criminal investigation it was established that the murder was carried out by members of an organised crime group," the statement read. It was not immediately clear when the trial would start.

Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev are due to stand trial. Police are still hunting three other men in connection with the killing, it said. One of them, Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, is accused of ordering the shooting.

Klebnikov's death attracted huge public interest and a great deal of speculation as to who wanted him dead and why.

Russian media has suggested it was a revenge killing for a book Klebnikov wrote in which he sharply criticised Nukhayev, a criminal boss linked to Chechen separatists.

At the time the theory was also aired that Forbes' publication of a list of Russia's richest magnates was the reason behind the killing. The list angered some of the country's super-rich, who were not happy with the source and scale of their wealth becoming common knowledge.