Moscow ? A jury on Friday acquitted two Chechen men accused of murdering U.S. journalist Paul Klebnikov almost two years ago on a Moscow street. The victim’s relatives urged Russia to investigate his slaying “with renewed vigor.”

Klebnikov, a 41-year-old New Yorker of Russian descent and the Forbes Russian edition editor, was shot to death in July 2004 outside the Forbes office in Moscow. Klebnikov had investigated corruption and sought to shed light on the closed, violent world of Russian business.

Dozens of relatives and friends of the acquitted defendants, Kazbek Dukuzov, 32, Musa Vakhayev, 42, burst into cheers, applause and tears of relief outside the Moscow courtroom.

Prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin said the state might appeal the verdict, which he said was influenced by “gross violations” of procedural legislation. Under Russian law, acquittals can be appealed.

Prosecutors claimed the defendants killed Klebnikov on behalf of Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, a Chechen separatist figure who was the subject of a critical book by Klebnikov and remains at large.