„World Press Photo“ paroda. Apsilankykite
Bilietai
2012 08 29

Lithuania's suspected terrorist Eglė Kusaitė asks to hear all audio recordings before trial

Lithuanian Eglė Kusaitė, who is on trial for plotting a terrorist attack in Chechnya, and her lawyer Kęstutis Stungys have requested a possibility to examine all video and audio recordings in connection to the case. Prosecutor Mindaugas Dūda dismissed the request as an attempt to delay the trial.
Eglės Kusaitės byla
Eglė Kusaitė / Irmanto Gelūno / BNS nuotr.

During a Vilnius court hearing on Wednesday, Stungys asked for at least three weeks for him and his defendant to study the recordings and a detailed breakdown of text messages.

The defendant has already received copies of all recordings and minutes, but was unable to study the large amount in merely two days.

"We do not only need time for hearing them and comparing to the minutes, but also time for assessment," the lawyer said.

Meanwhile, Dūda recalled that Kusaitė's case went to court back in October 2010, adding that the recordings were also part of the case that the defendant has always had access to.

"For the past 18 months, nobody wanted to study the recordings. After the panel of judges announced plans to hear the recordings, she immediately said she wanted to hear them individually. I see this as a clear attempt to delay the proceedings," the prosecutor said.

Judges decided to give the defendant and her lawyer time to listen to the recordings. As they have already heard part of them, the hearings will be continued on Wednesday afternoon.

The next hearings in the case are scheduled for November.

She was detained in October 2009. According to data available to Lithuanian prosecutors, Kusaitė had made contacts with Islamic groups and was preparing for a terrorist attack in Chechnya, a North Caucasus republic within the Russian Federation striving for independence. Russian prosecutors say Apti Magmadov and his sister Aishat used a mobile telephone and Internet to persuade Kusaitė into joining the gang and detonating herself in a public place in Russia.

The young woman has denied the intentions, but earlier data suggest she told a judge in 2010 her plans to go to Moscow and commit suicide due to a bad situation in her family and drugs.

Kusaitė maintains she was then subjected to psychological and physical violence during the interrogation, in addition to psychotropic medication. Furthermore, she says she was included into the unlawful activities by the State Security Department.

Kusaitė's accomplices, Apti and Aishat Magmadovs, were sentenced last December to six and two years in prison, respectively.

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