Russian journalist murder trial opens

Journalist Dimitry Kholodov was investigating military corruption when he was killed

Five former military intelligence officers and a security guard have gone on trial in Moscow, accused of conspiring to murder a journalist in 1994.

Prominent defence correspondent Dimitry Kholodov was killed by a suitcase bomb while investigating corruption in the military.

Why not just shoot him? It happens in Moscow all the time

Pavel Felgengauer, journalist

The prosecution alleges that the suspects killed Mr Kholodov to impress their superiors, who were targets of the journalist's investigations.

But Pavel Felgengauer, a Russian journalist who knew Mr Kholodov, thinks the evidence against them is weak.

'Very sophisticated'

"He picked up a case at a railway terminal and it exploded. It was very sophisticated, the way it was done," he said of the murder.

He said he doubted that "low-level paratroopers" would have gone to such elaborate lengths to kill a journalist.

"Why not just shoot him in the street or in front of his apartment? It happens in Moscow all the time," Mr Felgengauer said.

The court's first action will be to consider two defence appeals, one asking for criminal charges to be dropped against one defendant for lack of evidence and another for further pyrotechnic testing.

The trial is closed to the press and public.