ATTORNEY TRUNOV: NO TESTIMONY
Izvestia, January 21, 2003, p. 3
Trunov turned up at the Moscow Municipal Prosecutor’s Office yesterday. An investigator, Mr. Kovalchuk, asked him some questions concerning a certain tape the attorney said depicted “sufferings of the victims”. Trunov refused to answer questions, verbally or in the written form. Even Moscow Deputy Prosecutor Vladimir Yudin tried to persuade him to cooperate, but in vain.
Trunov: I represent the accusing party in the case against the government of Moscow. The Prosecutor’s Office is supposed to be on my side, right? But it is not. Had I testified today, it would have been all right to demand my withdrawal from the court process as an interested party. The situation being what it is, however, I have the protection of the Russian law. The Prosecutor’s Office could not help knowing it, and yet it sent me a summons in defiance of the law.
The attorney keeps up the suspense with his mysterious tape. Nobody has seen it but Trunov himself. He says he must run it for judges first and make it available to the Prosecutor’s Office only afterwards.
The Moscow Municipal Prosecutor’s Office has not responded yet, but its officials doubt (off record) that Trunov possesses any tape he claims he has. They say that the way that the attorney is so secretive is suspicious.
Trunov: Judges and the Prosecutor’s Office cooperate. The judge set the Monday hearings for 2 p.m., as though she knew I was to be summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office in the morning. If that is so, let judges accept the tape as evidence officially, and I will make it available immediately.
