MOSCOW, May 15 (RAPSI) – The criminal case against Ilya Goryachev who stands charged with involvement in a notorious extremist movement BORN, that stands for "militant organization of Russian nationalists", and complicity in a number of high-profile murders to be heard by jury, the Moscow City Court ruled on Friday.

Jury selection will begin on June 1.

Goryachev pleaded not guilty, his lawyer Mark Feigin said. He claims that he didn’t kill anyone and was not a member of BORN, according to Feigin.

Prosecutors plan to summon Dmitry Steshin, reporter of Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, as a witnesses in the case. They also intend to question Nikita Tikhonov and Yevgenia Khasis, who have already been sentenced to long prison terms for the murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov, Feigin said.

Defense team plans to summon Leonid Simonin, Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy of the Donetsk People’s Republic, as a witness.

Members of BORN were charged with racketeering, illegal weapons trafficking and several counts of homicide, including the deaths of federal judge Eduard Chuvashov, Markelov, and several leaders of Russian anti-Nazi movements.

Markelov was killed in Moscow in January 2009. According to investigators, he was murdered for his active participation in an anti-Nazi movement.

Chuvashov was shot and killed in the stairwell of his Moscow apartment building in 2010. During his career with the Moscow City Court, he reviewed over 20 high-profile criminal cases, some of which involved racial murder.

Goryachev was placed on the international wanted list and in November 2013 extradited from Serbia.

Nikita Tikhonov, who is believed to be one of the group’s leaders, was convicted and sentenced in May 2011 to life in prison for the murder of Markelov and Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova.

Tikhonov got 18 extra years in prison last September for killing Chuvashov.

His accomplice,Yevgenia Khasis, was given 18 years behind bars.