Captain Eduard Ulman and three other co-defendants are accused of attacking a jeep, killing six locals and burning a car during a reconnaissance mission in the North Caucasus republic in January 2002.
A RIA Novosti correspondent reported from the courtroom that the presiding judge was told Olga Manikina, a defense lawyer for co-defendant Lieutenant Alexander Kalagansky, was on holiday, which led to an immediate response for an attorney acting for the victims.
"The vacation of one of the defense lawyers only delays the trial, given that four lawyers are acting for the defendants," Lyudmila Tikhomirova said. "Other members of the defense team are also planning vacations. The hearings were already postponed till October and could be delayed further indefinitely."
Ulman, Kalagansky, Major Alexei Perelevsky, and warrant officer Vladimir Voyevodin were acquitted twice on charges of murder and abuse of office by the North Caucasus District Military Court, but Russia's Supreme Court overturned the rulings, returning the case to a regional military court for retrial.
The Supreme Court upheld an appeal filed by prosecutors and backed by lawyers acting for the victims, and ruled June 7 that a professional non-jury court should hear the case.
The Constitutional Court ruled April 6 that serious crimes committed in Chechnya could be tried without a jury.
The ruling came following an enquiry made by Chechen President Alu Alkhanov concerning the legality of several articles in laws on military courts that he said gave the military rights not enjoyed by ordinary citizens.
Alkhanov said previously that servicemen suspected of crimes in Chechnya had been tried in front of a jury, whereas ordinary Chechen defendants would only be able to have jury trials as of 2007. He also said the jury in the Ulman case had not included ethnic Chechens, which had influenced the court decision.
The full-scale military offensive in Chechnya ended in 2000, when federal troops took control of the capital, Grozny. But militants continued resistance in Chechnya for several years and also carried out bloody terrorist attacks and hostage takings in other Russian regions.
Russian troops in the republic have also drawn international condemnation for human rights violations.
