Trial by jury became a nationwide possibility on Monday as the first such case in the history of Chechnya began.
The Chechen Supreme Court selected 12 jurors and two extras for the case of Zelimkhan Magomadov, a suspected militant who is accused of trying to kill the physically challenged Lechi Zukharayev, a former law enforcement officer working as a taxi driver, in 2000, RIA-Novosti reported Monday.
Both men were living in the village of Goity in the Urus-Martan region of central Chechnya.
"Despite claims that it is impossible to find people who are unbiased and not related to the defendants, we succeeded," presiding judge German Alexandrov said, Gazeta.ru reported.
The clannish structure of Chechen society has been cited as a concern for jury trials in the North Caucasus.
At least 6,000 inhabitants of the republic are listed as potential jury members, and 1,400 more qualify as alternates.
Chechnya officially introduced jury trials, considered by human rights groups to be the most unbiased form of trial in Russia, on Jan. 1, becoming the last Russian region to do so.
In a controversial decision delivered earlier this month, the Constitutional Court banned trial by jury for a number of crimes, including terrorism, treason and mass unrest, citing the possible threat to jurors.
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