Thursday, 4 December

Today the proceedings were closed to journalists.

10.55 am

The hearing into the murder of Anna Politkovskaya should have begun at 11 am. However, the vehicle bringing the accused to the courtroom in central Moscow was held up in a traffic jam. A correspondent who had permission to take photographs had to practice on his colleagues and the empty dock. Unexpectedly, all were asked to leave the room, “Just for half a minute”.

“At last,” my colleagues joked, seeing the dog: “they’ve begun to check that no one’s planted a bomb. Probably one of the jury rang up in despair from gridlocked traffic somewhere ...” People took up the joke though it was also suggested that the absent defence lawyers or journalists might have phoned in an anonymous bomb threat. Someone added, on a more serious note, that it was a good thing they were carrying out checks. It was a high-profile case and rather strange that this was the first time they did anything of the kind.

Yesterday when I was waiting by myself to be called as a witness I also wondered about security. They sat me down on a sofa and said, “Someone will come for you”. There was no one around. So I got up and, clacking my heels, took several loud steps. Ahead of me appeared a policeman with an automatic weapon slung across his chest. He made a lazy move in my direction. I turned round and two more appeared. A convincing show.

11.50 am

The accused arrived. We stood as the judge entered but in literally five minutes the courtroom emptied. The moment had come when the witness whose testimony was linked to State secrets would be cross-examined. The prosecutor Julia Safina made the announcement. Consequently, the hearing would be closed. Judge Zubov granted the prosecution petition and journalists and relatives of the accused were asked to leave the courtroom. The hearing continued in camera all Thursday.

Outside journalists were glum that two cafes, conveniently placed opposite the courthouse, had shut down several days earlier. It was there, during the first days of the trial that TV cameramen and journalists, Russian and foreign, were based. Perhaps that’s why they closed? Some said the owners of the cafes made so much from the crowds of journalists that they decided not to work anymore ...

Defence attorney Anna Stavitskaya told Novaya gazeta what went on behind closed doors. She could not give a detailed description of today’s hearing, it is true, since materials relating to State secrets were revealed during the proceedings.

Stavitskaya said that a witness appeared in court who told how one of the accused, Sergei Khadjikurbanov (whom the investigation consider the organiser of the murder), said that he intended to follow Anna Politkovskaya. “According to the witness, whose name I cannot mention, Khadjikurbanov said that he wanted to do something about Politkovskaya,” said Anna Stavitskaya.

“The accused Pavel Ryaguzov was also cross-examined (he is not charged over the episode linked to the murder). Unfortunately, I cannot say what testimony he gave. All I can say is that he withdrew the statements he made earlier during the investigation. He gave no reason for his decision,” noted Stavitskaya.

The defence attorney added that the jury were present in the courtroom but sometimes they also were obliged to leave when the two sides had to discuss procedural issues.