MOSCOW, January 11 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow City Court is to submit a declaration to the Chamber of Attorneys on infringements of professional etiquette by a defense lawyer in the murder trial of journalist Paul Klebnikov, a prosecution lawyer said Wednesday.
"The court has decided to inform the Moscow Chamber of Attorneys of the actions of a defense lawyer of Fail Sadretdinov, Ruslan Koblev, who the court believes is obstructing the trial process," lawyer Larisa Maslennikov said.
Klebnikov, the editor of the Russian version of Forbes magazine, was murdered in Moscow on July 9, 2004. He was a United States national.
The court's decision came following a petition from public prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin.
Court hearings in the trial - which started Tuesday - have been suspended until January 18.
Koblev responded to the accusations by calling them "a planned act" that was intended to drive a wedge between Sadretdinov and his lawyers.
"Since we are confident of the correctness of our legal position, we consider the acts of the public prosecutor to be an attack on the defense team. Almost everyone, including Sadretdinov's defense, has been subjected to very harsh pressure," he said.
The defense also says it believes that the court transcripts are being distorted.
"We cannot currently see the transcript of the court hearing, as the judge has ruled that we can only view it after the end of the trial. Since the proceedings are closed, audio recordings in the court are banned by law," Koblev said.
Moscow City Court Press Secretary Anna Usachyova said that Koblev had from the beginning of the trial "systematically and crudely infringed the norms of the criminal-professional code, and also court orders."
"The document to be sent to the Moscow Chamber of Attorneys will contain information on the need to take action against this lawyer," she said.
Two Chechens, Musa Vakhayev and Kazbek Dukuzov - who were arrested by Belarus police in Minsk on November 17 last year - are also being tried alongside Sadretdinov.
