MOSCOW - The trial of the Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians detained in Libya on charges of assisting the Gaddafi regime has been postponed until May 8, said Ilya Samonin, the head of the consular section of the Russian Embassy in Tripoli.
"The trial didn’t take place yesterday. It was rescheduled for a week later due to the May 1 celebrations," he told Interfax on Wednesday.
"The hearing is scheduled to take place on May 8," he said.
Russian citizens Vladimir Dolgov and Alexander Shadrov and several citizens of Ukraine and Belarus (a total of 25 people), were detained by the Libyan rebel battalion Kakaa on August 27, 2011. The defendants are charged with having restored military equipment used by the Gaddafi regime "to destroy the people of Libya."
The people were released with assistance from Russian Embassy officials on September 3, but were detained again on September 6 to investigate their possible involvement in the maintenance and modernization of tanks for the Gaddafi forces.
The case was to be tried on April 16, but the trial was then rescheduled for May 1.
