QATARI COURT SETS DATE FOR APPEAL HEARINGS ON YANDARBIYEV CASE

DUBAI, July 19 (RIA Novosti) - On July 21, the Qatari Court of Appeals starts hearings on an appeal from the defense team of two Russian nationals convicted of murdering the Chechen rebel leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev and sentenced to life imprisonment, the court's official spokesman told RIA in a telephone interview Monday.

The court will examine the motives for filing the appeal, as set forth by the convicts' chief Qatari defense lawyer, Muhsin al-Suweidi, the spokesman said. He did not specify, however, how long the appeal hearings would take.

Qatari security services arrested three Russian nationals in the capital of Doha on February 19, on suspicion of murdering Yandarbiyev, who had died in a car bomb blast February 13. One of the detainees, the Russian Embassy's First Secretary, who enjoys diplomatic immunity, was soon released from custody and returned to his home country.

After the verdict was pronounced on June 30, the defense lawyer al-Suweidi told local media that his clients were innocent and that they had been convicted "without any legal evidence" proving their guilt.

Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov pointed out in a statement that Moscow would use all political and diplomatic channels for getting the men out of jail.