DUBAI // More than one set of fingerprints was found on the bag containing the "golden gun" used to murder the Chechen warlord Sulim Yamadayev, the chief forensic investigator in the case confirmed yesterday. But she told the Dubai Court of Appeals that because the source of the prints was unknown she had left them out of her report.
Dr Fareeda Sulaiman of the Dubai Police forensic laboratory testified in an appeal by two men sentenced to life imprisonment in April for their roles in the murder of Yamadayev in the basement car park of his apartment in Jumeirah Beach Residences in March of last year. MH, an Iranian who was the horse groomer of the Chechen president, Ramzan Kadyrov, in Dubai, and MA, from Tajikistan, were convicted of planning, aiding and abetting the murder, and of illegally possessing the gold-plated 9mm handgun with which Yamadayev was shot dead.
Dr Sulaiman's forensic report identified only MH's prints on the bag used to hold the murder weapon. Another crime scene investigator told the court last month that a further set of prints was lifted from the bag, and that they matched prints on a set of gloves found at the crime scene. Dr Sulaiman confirmed yesterday there were other prints, but said the samples were inconclusive. The court will reconvene on August 24.
amustafa@thenational.ae