Man to be tried for crimes committed 16 years ago

A man will stand trial for offenses committed 16 years ago. He is accused of murder attempt, murder, illegal arms keeping, robbery, theft and blackmail. The case is examined by the Comrat Court, Info-Prim Neo reports. The man was arrested in Comrat this January. He had been wanted for 16 years. According to prosecutors, in 1995 the man bought a pistol, a revolver, two tommy guns, ammunition and a grenade without authorization. Together with another four persons, one of whom was disguised as a police officer, stopped a car on the Bolgrad-Causeni road. As the driver did not want to give them the US$1,000 he had on him, they shot him dead. The man is also accused of stealing two cars in Comrat and Taraclia in 1996 and of planting a grenade in the car of another driver. The grenade did not explode and the man fired several shots at the victim, who was together with several persons. All those persons were injured. The same day, the accused returned to the scene and shot dead a police officer. The prosecutors also accuse the man of taking shots at another three police officers and of attempting to kill a person in Comrat town. In 1997, the accused together with other persons took a man to the forest, beat him and forced him to give them the guns he owned.