MOSCOW -- The Moscow City Court has postponed hearings into the murder of Russian investigative reporter and human rights campaigner Anna Politkovskaya.
On January 15, the court adjourned the hearings until January 20 after one of the five defendants said he had no lawyer.
Judge Pavel Melekhin appointed a lawyer for the defendant and postponed the hearing, saying the new lawyer needs time to study the case.
A new jury in the trial of five men suspected of involvement in the murder was appointed on January 14.
The previous jury was dismissed in November after three jurors did not show up.
The jury's dismissal marked another setback in the controversial process that has so far only led to one conviction in the Politkovskaya case.
Also in November, the former lawyer for the five defendants was accused of obstruction of justice and attempting to bribe witnesses in an unrelated case.
Politkovskaya, an outspoken journalist who reported on atrocities committed by pro-Kremlin armed groups in Chechnya, was gunned down in 2006 in her apartment block in Moscow.
The five suspects pleaded not guilty in July.
Three of them were acquitted of similar charges in 2009 and are being retried.
On January 15, the court adjourned the hearings until January 20 after one of the five defendants said he had no lawyer.
Judge Pavel Melekhin appointed a lawyer for the defendant and postponed the hearing, saying the new lawyer needs time to study the case.
A new jury in the trial of five men suspected of involvement in the murder was appointed on January 14.
The previous jury was dismissed in November after three jurors did not show up.
The jury's dismissal marked another setback in the controversial process that has so far only led to one conviction in the Politkovskaya case.
Also in November, the former lawyer for the five defendants was accused of obstruction of justice and attempting to bribe witnesses in an unrelated case.
Politkovskaya, an outspoken journalist who reported on atrocities committed by pro-Kremlin armed groups in Chechnya, was gunned down in 2006 in her apartment block in Moscow.
The five suspects pleaded not guilty in July.
Three of them were acquitted of similar charges in 2009 and are being retried.
