Annushka

She passed away a year ago from a gunshot wound. It has become a high-profile case throughout the Caucasus, since Anna Sanakoeva was an employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), whereas a person suspected of her murder was the Head of MoI Investigation Department of Znaur district of South Ossetia. Thus, President Leonid Tibilov immediately took the case under personal control.

The story is as follows: overnight on December 2, 2014, she was beside the MoI officer, Murman Kulukhov and got a fatal gunshot wound. Later, Kulukhov turned himself in to the relevant authorities and said that Anna had committed a suicide. None of the relatives and friends of the deceased believe that, since, as they say, at that time the young lady had a successful period in her life: she was promoted at work, she won a prestigious contest and was going to leave for London to study there.

Court hearing of the case of Anna Sanakoeva, or Annushka, as all those, who knew her, called her, has been held only now, over a year after.

Zhanna Sanakoeva, a sister of the deceased

The court hearing was led by Judge Fatima Parastaeva, who eventually found the collected data insufficient and sent the case back for reinvestigation.

The court session was held in a rather tense atmosphere. The party of charge voiced the results of the examination, conducted by the Russian experts from a branch of the State Forensic Medical Center of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.

The prosecutor announced that based on the results of examination, Russian experts concluded that Anna Sanakoeva could not have shot herself. The examination is based on the following data: comparison of a gunshot angle; the nature of a gunshot wound, the killed person’s height, the fact that she was right-handed, as well as the position of Sanakoeva’s body at the time of her death. Besides, swabbing of Anna’s hand did not reveal any gunshot residue, while there was a carbonaceous soot residue on a sleeve of Kulukhov’s jacket, which, according to the prosecution, means that Kulukhov was in close proximity to the killed person at the moment the shot was made.

The shot was fired from Kulukhov’s premium handgun ‘Yarygin’.

The defendant’s lawyer, Yuri Bagaev, petitioned for changing a restraint measure for his client, since, in his view, Kulukhov’s detention was unreasonably prolonged. One of the lawyer’s arguments for changing the restraint measure was that Kulukhov was a father of a three-year old child. That caused a corresponding protest of the victim party’s lawyer.

Zhanna Sanakoeva, a sister of the deceased

As a result of the court hearing, the judge returned the criminal case materials to the public prosecutor, requesting to determine the motives and goals of the offence, that, under the Criminal Procedure Code, should be reflected in the case. She also extended till April 2016 the detention period for Murman Kulukhov, suspected of the murder of Tskhinval/i resident, Anna Sanakoeva.

Both lawyers in this case have been invited by the parties from the Russian Federation.