17.5.2005 13:26 MSK Pavel Lyuzakov sentenced to 2 years in prison colony RUSSIA, Moscow. On May 16th, the Ostankino District Court in Moscow ended the nearly one-and-a-half month trial of Pavel Lyuzakov, Editor- in- Chief of the newspaper "Free Word", who was accused of the illegal acquisition and transportation of firearms. He was sentenced to 2 years in a prison colony. Pavel Lyuzakov asserts his innocence.
Approximately half a year ago, Lyuzakov asked an acquaintance to purchase a self-defense gas pistol and license for him. On January 20th, this person gave him what he was told was a gas pistol. 2-3 minutes after they parted, Lyuzakov was delayed by the police. Upon examination, the package he was given contained not a gas pistol, but a firearm – a TT pistol with a cartridge clip.
Lyuzakov believes himself to be a victim of entrapment organized by the FSB in order to suppress his journalistic activities for the newspaper of the Democratic Union "Free Word" and for the Internet site "Caucasus-Center".
The District Attorney requested that Lyuzakov be sentenced to 2 years in a prison colony. Lyuzakov’s defense team, Anna Stavitskaya, Abu Gaytayev, and Cyril Podrabinek, requested that Lyuzakov testify. In the end, Lyuzakov did so, and stated that if there hadn’t been abuses of the process during the preliminary investigation, he would have had a better chance of proving his innocence.
Lyuzakov’s defense intends to appeal the sentence to the Court of Appeals.
Translated by OM Kenney PRIMA – News Agency [2005-05-14-Rus-36] http://www.prima-news.ru/eng/news/news/2005/5/17/32202.html
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