According to the source, hearings on the case were to start on November 19, 2004, but were delayed, when the court sustained a motion by the defense lawyer sending the case to the regional prosecutor's office to adjust procedural irregularities. The court decided that investigators made mistakes when composing the letter of accusation and failed to present a list of evidence.
In their turn prosecuting officials appealed to the regional court, which ruled that the irregularities could not hinder consideration.
It will be the third time that the Kirovsky district court of Novosibirsk considers this flagrant case. The hearings will start on March 28.
Vladimir Novosyolov, defendant and chief surgeon at the Novosibirsk regional forensic medical examination institution, was acquitted of all charges twice in the proceedings held in November 2003 and July 2004. In their verdicts judges stressed that evidence presented by preliminary investigation bodies was not enough for a sentence.
However, representatives of the prosecutor's office also appealed twice to higher authorities, which returned the case for reconsideration.
Investigation was initiated against Vladimir Novosyolov in 2001 after it became known that he had illegally sent over 50 corpses to Germany. The corpses were delivered to Gunther von Hagens, a scientist and avant-garde artist heading the Institute of Plastination in Heidelberg and notorious for his shocking anatomic exhibitions.
The prosecutor's office laid charges against the forensic surgeon, when investigation specified that he had abused his authority to force hospitals in the province to send dead bodies unclaimed by relatives to his office.
