Setback for Russian agents on trial in Qatar

Two Russian secret service agents on trial in Qatar for the killing of a former Chechen president have been dealt a heavy blow by a court's refusal to allow them to call a senior diplomat as a key defence witness.

The court in Doha, where the men are being tried, brought their conviction a step closer when it rejected testimony from Maksim Maksimov, a Russian consul, who claims that they were tortured after their arrest in February.

Late last week the defendants faced a second setback when reports circulated that the sole remaining defence witness, a hotel employee who provided an alibi for the men, had disappeared.

Anatoly Belashkov and Vassily Bokchov are accused of murdering Salim Khan Yandarbiyev, who briefly served as the president of Chechnya in the 1990s, and is said by Moscow to have been responsible for raising funds for Chechen separatist rebels.

Qatari police say that soon after the two Russians were arrested, the agents confessed to planting the bomb that exploded beneath the former Chechen leader's vehicle in February, killing him instantly. They have produced 13 witnesses to support the case against the Russians.

Moscow insists the two men were intelligence agents investigating terrorist funding, that they played no part in the assassination and were tortured to extract confessions.

Defence lawyers are dismayed that they were not allowed to call Maksimov at the hearing, which is taking place behind closed doors. The judge refused to allow the diplomat to give evidence because he had attended previous hearings.

Ilya Levitov, a spokesman for the legal team representing the agents, said: "The consul saw evidence that they had been hit around the head and bitten by dogs. The prosecution is clearly worried that his evidence could discredit the Qatari authorities."

© The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2004