Politkovskaya murder: Four people charged
Wednesday, 18 Jun 2008 19:39
Four men charged by Russian prosecutors over murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya - image courtesy of Novaya Gazeta and Human Rights in Russia (www.hro.org)
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Four men have today been charged by Russian prosecutors over the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
The human rights journalist, who defied calls to defect to the west over fears for her safety, was shot in the lift of her Moscow apartment block two years ago.
Prosecutors today charged three men directly with the 48-year-old's murder, while a retired secret service officer was handed extortion and abuse of office charges.
Pavel Ryaguzov, who like the other three suspects has spent the last ten months in prison, had previously been accused of supplying Ms Politkovskaya's address to her killers.
The men charged with involvement in the Novaya Gazeta correspondent's murder are former police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov and Chechnyan brothers Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov.
Their eldest brother, Rustam, has also been implicated in the journalist's murder but remains at large.
The Novaya Gazeta claims leaks from the official investigation have allowed Rustam Makhmudov to flee the country and has also criticised prosecutors for failing to identify who organised the murder plot.
Ms Politkovskaya was a vocal critic of then president Vladimir Putin for his erosion of democratic and social freedoms in Russia and frequently travelled to Chechnya to report on the abuse of civilians and the ill treatment of conscripts.
Speaking after her death in October 2006 Mr Putin said her influence upon Russian society had been "minimal... very little".