The US trial of a former Soviet officer accused of being a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan will start on Thursday in Virginia, court documents said on Monday.
The US trial of a former Soviet officer accused of being a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan will start on Thursday in Virginia after a three-day delay, court documents said on Monday.
The trial of the Russian man, Irek Hamidullin, had been scheduled to begin on Monday in Richmond.
Hamidullin, believed to be in his 50s, faces 15 criminal counts ranging from supporting terrorists to firearms charges stemming from his alleged orchestration of a 2009 attack on an Afghan border police base. He was due to be the first military prisoner from Afghanistan tried in US federal court.
Hamidullin, a former Soviet officer and tank commander in the early 1980s, was indicted by a grand jury in October 2014.
The trial in US District Court will start on Thursday, according to a court filing. The delay was caused by Hamidullin's lawyers needing time to study evidence from the Defence Department that was turned over on Saturday.
Pre-trial hearings and motions have centred on whether Hamidullin could be tried in the United States for actions as an insurgent in Afghanistan. Judge Henry Hudson last month rejected a motion by Hamidullin's attorneys to throw out the indictment.
Hamidullin is accused of commanding a November 2009 attack on a border police base in eastern Afghanistan's Khost province.
He is accused of ordering his men to set up a machine gun and a recoilless rifle to fire on US military helicopters. After the attack failed, Hamidullin opened fire on Afghan and US forces with a machine gun, prosecutors said. He was wounded and captured as the sole Taliban survivor of the assault. No Afghans or Americans were killed.
The charges against Hamidullin include attempting to destroy a US military aircraft, conspiracy and attempting to kill a US official.
US federal public defenders are representing Hamidullin. He faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted.
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