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Defence presents waiver letter from Yamadayev family to court

DUBAI — Lawyers of an Iranian defendant, accused of aiding and abetting the assassination of Chechen rebel leader Sulim Yamadayev, presented a copy of the waiver letter from the victim’s close relatives to the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.

Counsel Abdullah Madani and Dr Zaher Mohammed Zaher showed the court panel a copy of the waiver signed by Yamadayev family members of their personal right in the case.

However, the waiver is still to be translated and authenticated by the UAE Embassy and the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Moscow and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The lawyers told the court that the preliminary copy, which is drawn up in Russian and not yet authenticated, is a simple proof of their efforts to seek a settlement in the case. Presiding Judge Moustapha Shinawi adjourned the hearing to December 8 for the lawyers to present the final accredited waiver document and for closing arguments.

Madani and Dr Zaher are also expected to present a letter from the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) that the Iranian defendant did not have a driving licence nor a car at the time the incident happened.

The Iranian defendant — a clerk — and a Tajik businessman, both 38, were each sentenced to 25-year imprisonment by the Court of First Instance in April and ordered to be deported for aiding and abetting Yamadayev’s assassination. They pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Dubai Police Criminal Lab’s report said that fingerprints lifted from a bag in which the murder tool was allegedly hidden matched those of the Iranian defendant.

The criminal evidence report also said apart from the Iranian’s, unidentified fingerprints were also lifted from the bag.

The assassins, believed to be four in number, are still at large.

Yamadayev was shot in the back of the head in late March last year as he stepped out of his four-wheel-drive in the basement of the Jumeirah Beach Residence flat in which he lived with his wife and six children.

An Emirati police lieutenant earlier claimed that the Iranian gave the mastermind behind the assassination lift in his vehicle several times, while the Tajik helped the killers flee the country.

mary@khaleejtimes.com

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