Russian prosecutors have expressed concern over reports that nationalists are using Internet forums to find the address of the judge in the trial of two ultra-right activists accused in the 2009 murder of a human rights lawyer and a journalist.
Lawyer Stanislav Markelov and reporter Anastasia Baburova, who worked on the opposition Novaya Gazeta newspaper, were shot dead in broad daylight in central Moscow on January 19, 2009.
Nikita Tikhonov and Yevgenia Khasis - both linked to the ultranationalist group Russky Obraz - are accused of the killings.
A Moscow prosecutor said on Thursday details of the private lives of Judge Alexander Zamashnyuk, who presides over the trial, and Prosecutor Boris Laktionov are being discussed on a nationalist web forum.
Moscow City Court Judge Eduard Chuvashov, who presided over a series of high-profile cases involving neo-Nazi groups, was allegedly the subject of Internet threats before he was shot dead last April.
On Thursday. the Moscow City Court disqualified Khasis's defense lawyer Maxim Korotkov-Gulayev for repeated breaches of procedure.
Within the space of six weeks he had received six warnings, mainly for ignoring instructions from the presiding judge and harassing witnesses in court.
The court will also send an official complaint to the Moscow Bar Association.
MOSCOW, March 3 (RIA Novosti)
