Fatkhulla Iskhakov, a pensioner from Ufa, recorded an open appeal to the chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation with a request to cancel the sentence for attempted murder 64 years ago, which the man, according to him, did not commit.

Earlier, RT talked about Iskhayev's long-term attempts to prove his innocence. Since 1990, the proceedings in the case have been resumed several times "due to new circumstances", but then they were again stopped.

In 2019, after another decision to stop the review of the case, Fatkhullah Iskhakov appealed to the Constitutional Court with a demand to recognize this decision as illegal. In December 2022, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation satisfied the pensioner's request.

In April 2022, the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Vyacheslav Lebedev, also submitted a proposal to resume the process, but since then the situation, according to Iskhakov and his lawyer, has not changed.

"I ask [The Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Lebedev]: look into it, I ask you to consider and decide to cancel the verdict, to rehabilitate me. So that I go to another world with a calm soul ...", says Iskhakov in his video message to the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Lebedev.

Iskhakov's lawyer, Vitaly Burkin, says he does not understand why the review of the criminal case is being delayed.

"The man is 85 years old, he is almost blind ... But he is in a combative mood - he says: "I will not die until they are acquitted. The verdict should have been canceled in 2015 for sure, " insists lawyer Vitaly Burkin. "The Constitutional Court has already ordered to review this case, the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Lebedev made a submission - and the lower courts ignored all this."

Crime and punishment

According to the sentence handed down to Fatkhullah Iskhakov in 1959, he committed an attempted murder by sneaking into the house of neighbors and striking three sleeping girls with an axe. The victims at the time of the attack were asleep and the attacker's face was not examined.

In sentencing, the court referred to the testimony of several witnesses who stated that they had seen Iskhakov near the house of the victims on the night of the attack, as well as to the blood stains of one of the victims found on the jacket in Iskhakov's house. In addition, the police found a metal wire in the man's house, similar to the one that opened the door to the house of the victims.

Fatkhulla Iskhakov never admitted his guilt, despite the fact that, according to him, during interrogations he was threatened by the police. He explained the blood stains on his clothes by the fact that one of the victims, Maryam, after the attack came to his house for help - the woman herself confirmed this. Nevertheless, the court found Iskhakov guilty, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

After 13 years, Iskhakov was released. During this time, his wife died. The man began a new life, started a family and children, but did not give up trying to defend his innocence.

New readings

In 1990, proceedings in Iskhakov's criminal case were resumed after witnesses admitted that they had incriminated the man allegedly under pressure from police officers conducting the interrogation – in fact, they did not see Iskhakov on the night of the crime.

In addition, a second medical examination was carried out, after which it turned out that the victims had suffered only damage to the soft tissues of the head, and not penetrating wounds to the skull, as stated in the examination of 1959.

Nevertheless, in 1993 the case was closed again - the investigation considered the testimony of witnesses and the data of the re-examination insufficient grounds to cancel the sentence of Iskhakov.

In 2012, one of the witnesses in the case, Nail Saitbattalov, wrote a letter to Fathulla Iskhakov admitting that on the fateful night of 1959, it was he who attacked the sleeping girls - and not with an axe, but with a razor blade. Subsequently, he also wrote a confession and again voiced his confession in 2013 at a confrontation with Iskhakov. In 2014, Saitbattalov died.

In 2015, the Prosecutor of the Republic of Bashkortostan, based on the newly discovered circumstances, decided to resume the criminal proceedings, but subsequently withdrew it, and the process was again stopped until the Constitutional Court, at the request of Iskhakov, recognized it as illegal.

Decision of the 6th Court of Cassation

The current appeal of Fatkhulla Iskhakov to the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Lebedev is connected with the decision of the 6th Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction of July 18, 2022, issued three months after the submission made by Lebedev with the demand to resume consideration of the case.

The 6th Court of Cassation considered the case, but found no grounds for canceling the sentence of Iskhakov, although it recognized the termination of the proceedings in the case in 2015 as illegal.

The court's decision correlates the materials of the criminal case and various versions of the testimony of witnesses voiced by them in the period from 1990 to 2013. The panel of judges concluded that, based on the statements of eyewitnesses, it is safe to state only that on the night of the attack they did not see Iskhakov, as originally claimed.

Despite Nail Saitbattalov's confession, the court saw no grounds for finding Fatkhulla Iskhakov's innocence of the attempted murder in 1959. The sentence was upheld.

The defense is outraged by this decision, insisting that over the past 30 years, a lot of evidence has already appeared indicating the innocence of the pensioner.

"According to the Court of Cassation, the invoice received during the proceedings on newly discovered circumstances is not enough to cancel the sentence. We believe that this is an act of legal nihilism," Concluded Iskhakov's lawyer Vitaly Burkin.