Lawyer defends client in Yamadayev case

Dubai: A lawyer defended in court on Wednesday that his client was made a scapegoat in what he described as ‘political murder' of Chechen leader Sulim Yamadayev, who was assassinated in Dubai last year.

"The assassination of Chechen leader Yamadayev, which attracted massive local and international media attention, is a pure, crystal clear political murder. The real killers escaped from Dubai after the assassination. Meanwhile my client, M.T., [an Iranian clerk convicted in the murder] and the other Tajik defendant, M.K. [also convicted in the case] were scapegoats.

"In its verdict sheet, the Dubai Court of First Instance mentioned in five pages that the murder happened due to political motives. Had Yamadayev been a Russian intelligence agent or a Chechen ‘mujahid', the primary court should not have considered the political motives behind the murder," said M.T.'s lawyer Abdullah Al Madani before the Dubai Appeal Court.