Free Republic

Irina Vasina is checking the 'durability' of the victims of the terrorist attack at Dubrovka, and will postpone judicial sessions   On April 25th, 2005, in Hall 203 of the Zamoskvoreche district court, Moscow (Judge Irina Vasina presiding), hearings continued on the complaint of 'Nord-Ost' survivor Svetlana Gubareva, whose 13 -year-old daughter and US husband Sandy Booker perished at Dubrovka. Prehistory The essence of Svetlana's complaint is that she is charging the Moscow city attorney's investigative group with inaction on the 'Nord-Ost' case. Up until now, the precise time and place of her loved ones' deaths has not been established....

MOSCOW - It had the beginnings of a classic courtroom drama: Russian special forces storming the private jet of one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the country; an 800-page indictment outlining charges of massive tax evasion and fraud; allegations of political persecution ordered from the highest reaches of the Kremlin. But as the trial of the Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky crept forward over the last 10 months, it became clear his story was lacking the most important element of any drama: suspense. When the trial's judge, Irina Kolesnikova, hands down her verdict on Wednesday, no one,...