II afghan veterans await verdict

In a long-running courtroom drama now nearing its close, prosecutors are seeking long prison sentences for three Afghan veterans accused of plotting and carrying out the bloody Kotlyakovskoye cemetery bombing in November 1996.

A verdict is expected Friday, court officials say, in the case of Andrei Anokhin, Valery Radchikov, and Mikhail Smurov.

Radchikov, the former head of an Afghan veterans group, stands accused of ordering the to kill Sergei Trakhirov, head of a rival veteran’s fund. The two funds fought over lucrative tax-free import privileges handed out by the government. Trakhirov died in the blast along with 13 others. They were attending a memorial service for Mikhail Likhodei, Trakhirov’s predecessor, who was himself killed by a bomb two years before to the day. The bomb left 30 people injured.

Eventually, the government ended the import privileges after the heads of the groups who benefited were continually the victims of contract-style assassination attempts.

The trial has dragged on since April in the heavily guarded courtroom at the Matrosskaya Tishina prison. Prosecutor has asked for 15 years for Anokhin, 12 years for Radchikov and 10 years for Smurov [22].

Questions:

1. What were the three Afghan war veterans accused of?

2. Why do you think Sergei Trakhirov was killed?

3. What made prosecutors seek long prison sentences for the veterans?

4. What funds did Valery Radchikov, Mikhail Likhodei and Sergei Trakhirov run?

5. What did the two funds fight over?

6. Why were they rivals?

7. Why did the government have to end the import privileges handed out to the funds previously?

III afghan war veterans acquitted

A military court Friday acquitted three Afghan war veterans accused of killing 14 people in the Kotlyakovskoye cemetery blast in a case highlighting police use of force and intimidation to wrest false confessions.

In the verdict, Judge Vladimir Serdyukov said former paratroopers Andrei Anokhin and Mikhail Smurov were driven by “fear for their lives and the lives of their relatives” when they falsely confessed to carrying out the bombing November 10, 1996.

The judge also said the details of their confessions were not substantiated by evidence.

The two veterans and the third defendant, Valery Radchikov, were released Friday after almost three years in jail.

In their confessions, which were written the same day but in different police cells, Anokhin and Smurov said Radchikov paid them $60,000 to kill his rival, Sergei Trakhirov.

Once out of police hands and on trial, Anokhin and Smurov retracted their statements, saying they had been drugged, threatened with rape and beaten by police detectives.

Analysis of the physical evidence substantiated their claims that the confessions were false the judge said.

Valery Radchikov, who lost both legs in Afghanistan, said he may file suit against the officers of the Interior Ministry and Prosecutor General's Office who linked him, Anokhin and Smurov to the bombing and kept them in custody for almost three years [23].

Questions:

1. What did the Kotlyakovskoye cemetery blast case highlight?

2. Do you believe police used force and intimidation to wrest false confessions?

3. Why do you think Anokhin and Smurov confessed to carrying out the bombing?

4. Do you agree that all the confessions must be always substantiated by evidence?

5. Why did the defendants spend almost three years in jail?

6. What means did police use to wrest false confessions?

7. Do you believe the organizers of the blast will be found?