After a seven week break, today in Vienna, the Umar Israilov murder trial continued. However, it seems that the process will take longer than expected.

Today, three suspects were in the courtroom, and the judges asked them many questions. The court hearing took longer than normal, because all of the questions and answers were translated into Russian and Austrian.

One of the defendants, Suleiman Dadayev, said that it was a matter of money. According to him, Umar Israilov had appropriated a certain sum, which was attributed to the unit of a Chechen field commander. This field commander was fighting against Russia, and thus against Kadyrov. They only wanted to recover this money. He also denied accusations that he followed Umar Israilov’s daily activities in order to make a plan. He said that he only stopped in this area two or three times to see where Umar lived.

On the other hand, the main suspect is still absent, and the Prosecutor’s Office in Moscow has not sent a reply to the Austrian court’s demand. Judge Friedrich Forsthuber said that they have given a deadline of March 20th for Russian authorities to at least give an interim report. The Austrian judge also wanted to interrogate Ramzan Kadyrov, who is behind the murder according to very strong public opinion. However, it seems that Kadyrov will never accept.

The trial will continue on March 25th.

*Text was written by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco