The trial of 12 top Soviet officials accused of trying to seize power in the failed August 1991 coup was suspended Tuesday after the judge upheld defense accusations that senior prosecutors biased the case by publishing a book on it.
Presiding Judge Anatoly Ukolov agreed with defense lawyers that Prosecutor General Valentin Stepankov and his deputy Yevgeny Lisov had committed "serious violations" of legal procedures in preparing the case.He said the court decided to formally ask the Russian Parliament, the Supreme Soviet, to consider how the "real independence" of the nine-person prosecution team can be guaranteed - a move that implies the removal of Stepankov and Lisov from office.
Lawyers defending the men had argued that the state's investigation and conduct of the case was biased, chiefly by the publication last year of Stepankov's best-selling book "Kremlin Plot," about the coup attempt.
"The very title of the book shows that the prosecutor general has an opinion on the case and is not objective," said Alexei Gologanov, lawyer for former Soviet Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov.
"It is a very crude infringement on the rights of the accused," he said, adding that the publication of such a book was "unprecedented in world practice."
The long-awaited coup conspirators' trial in the military section of the Russian Supreme Court began April 14 but was adjourned on the third day due to the illness of one of the defendants, Alexander Tizyakov, 67.
The trial was back in session for a mere 20 minutes Tuesday before it recessed for the judges to deliberate defense complaints of prosecution bias.
Among the accused are former Soviet Vice President Gennady Yanayev, ex-Soviet Parliament Chairman Anatoly Lukyanov and former head of the KGB security service Vladimir Kryuchkov.
The 12 defendants are accused of high treason with conspiracy to seize power, a charge that could carry the death sentence.