Russia's top court has overturned the acquittal of all three suspects in the murder of US journalist Paul Klebnikov, who was shot dead in Moscow two years ago, a spokesman for the supreme court told AFP Thursday.
"The case has been sent to the Moscow city court for a new hearing," the spokesman said, referring to the acquittals in May of three suspects in the killing of the 41-year-old editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine.
Klebnikov was gunned down outside his Moscow office in July 2004, one of the highest-profile killings of a journalist in Russia before the apparent assassination of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in October. The three men cleared in Klebnikov's murder included two Chechens, Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev, and a Moscow notary, Fail Sadretdinov.
All three had insisted on their innocence. A lawyer for Dukuzov said that the legal team was quoted by Interfax as saying the defence would not appeal the supreme court's decision. "We are confident that the final result will be an acquittal," lawyer Igor Korotkov said.