Suspect in plot to kill Chechen president gets 8 years in prison

MOSCOW. April 2. KAZINFORM The Moscow City Court sentenced on Thursday Lors Khamiyev to eight years in prison after he was found guilty of plotting to kill Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov in May 2007, a RIA Novosti correspondent said.

The prosecution had demanded a 12-year prison sentence for Khamiyev, Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. His accomplice, Umar Batukayev, who was found guilty of using forged documents and illegally buying and storing arms, received a five-year prison sentence. A third suspect, Ruslan Musayev, was acquitted of all charges. Khamiyev was convicted after a jury handed down a guilty verdict. The jury found only Khamiyev guilty of planning to kill Kadyrov. Chechnen residents Khamiyev, Batukayev and Musayev were accused of being a part of terrorist group which planned to kill the president by detonating a car bomb near the Chechen representative office in downtown Moscow. The car in question was found packed with explosives in southern Moscow on May 8, 2008.