During Lebedev’s complaint about the inactivity of the Prosecutor General

At the request of the prosecutor’s office, the Ingodinsky district court in Chita has adjourned until 25 July its hearing of the complaint by Lebedev’s lawyers against the failure to act of Yury Chaika, the Russian Prosecutor General. As our correspondent was told on Friday the spokesman for the prosecutor’s office proved unprepared for the hearing and asked for more time to study the documents.

He only heard about the case yesterday and had not had time to prepare. During the course of the hearing Lebedev’s attorneys announced that their client had not received a reply to his complaint of 21 February 2008, addressed to the RF Prosecutor General. As earlier reported, in February this year Platon Lebedev sent a complaint to Mr Chaika about the unlawful actions of the former investigator Karimov who, in the opinion of his attorneys, had falsified the decree of 3 February 2007 whereby Lebedev was accused of offences in the new criminal case.

Defence lawyer Vladimir Krasnov says that former head of the investigating team Salavat Karimov had cited incorrect information and permitted other infringements of the law. “The Criminal Procedural Code says that Lebedev should have received an answer within three days or in extreme cases, within 10 days,” commented Krasnov. “However, we have still not had an answer as of today.”

(Interfax, 18.07.2008)