MOSCOW, October 11 - RAPSI, Diana Gutsul. The Moscow City Court will hold on October 18 the preliminary hearing in the case of former Main Intelligence Directorate officer Vladimir Kvachkov, who has been charged with preparing a mutiny, his attorney Oksana Mikhalkina told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Thursday.

She said the court will determine procedural matters at this stage, such as the number of judges on the panel.

"Kvachkov is not entitled to ask for a jury trial," she said. "We will discus whether we should request a panel of three judges or a single judge."

She added that earlier her client symbolically asked for a three-judge panel as in the years of Stalin's purges, when such tribunals quickly found all suspects guilty of high treason.

Kvachkov's case will be tried in private, as some of the case materials are classified.

The day after Kvachkov was acquitted on charges of organizing the attempted assassination of former United Energy System head Anatoly Chubais, he was charged with aiding and abetting terrorism and attempted mutiny.

The charges carry a maximum 20 year prison sentence. Kvachkov has not admitted to the crime.

According to Kvachkov, he has been accused of preparing a group of recruits from his People's Liberation Front of Russia armed with crossbows to organize a coup.