Captain Eduard Ulman and three other co-defendants are accused of attacking a jeep, killing six locals and burning a car during a reconnaissance mission in the North Caucasus republic in January 2002, according to an indictment read by the presiding judge at a hearing Tuesday, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported from the courtroom.
The judges have adjourned until December 14, when witnesses are set to start giving evidence, according to a provisional schedule. Prosecutors expect about 40 witnesses to appear in court hearings.
Ulman, Lieutenant Alexander Kalagansky, Major Alexei Perelevsky, and warrant officer Vladimir Voyevodin were acquitted twice on charges of murder and abuse of office by the North Caucasus District Military Court in jury trials.
But the Supreme Court upheld an appeal filed by prosecutors and backed by lawyers acting for the victims, and ruled on June 7 that a professional non-jury court should hear the case.
The Constitutional Court ruled April 6 that serious crimes committed in Chechnya could be tried without a jury.
The ruling came following an enquiry made by Chechen President Alu Alkhanov concerning the legality of several articles in laws on military courts that he said gave the military rights not enjoyed by ordinary citizens.
Alkhanov said previously that servicemen suspected of crimes in Chechnya had been tried in front of a jury, while ordinary Chechen defendants would only be able to have jury trials as of 2007. He also said the jury in the so-called Ulman case had not included ethnic Chechens, which had influenced the court decision.
Ulman's defense lawyer Roman Krzhechkovsky earlier said a non-jury trial would most likely result in a guilty verdict with long sentences for his defendants.
"A guilty verdict is predetermined if the case is decided in a professional non-jury court," he said.
The full-scale military offensive in Chechnya ended in 2000, when federal troops took control of the capital, Grozny. But militants continued resistance in Chechnya for several years and also carried out bloody terrorist attacks and hostage takings in other Russian regions.
Russian troops in the republic have also drawn international condemnation for human rights violations.
