Charges Laid Against Politkovskaya Accused …

• June 8th, 2011
• Posted by EUEditor

Russian investigators have charged the suspect detained a week ago in Chechnya, Rustam Makhmudov, with the murder of the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya (picture).

Ms Politkovskaya, a vocal critic of government policies, notably over military repression in Chechnya, was shot dead in the lift of her apartment building in Moscow, in 2006.

The International Federation of Journalists, in Brussels, has campaigned for more urgent action to solve that murder, and also the violent deaths of several other journalists in Russia.

While welcoming a move by investigators there last year, to re-examine a back-log of 19 cases, back to 2000; it says “instigators” have to be found, not only immediate perpetrators.

Two brothers of Rustam Makhmudov and another man were tried and acquitted of involvement in the shooting of Anna Politkovskaya.

That verdict was then over-turned in 2009 by a higher court, which referred their cases back to the investigators.

Prosecutors say they now have enough evidence to convict Makhmudov, who was living for a time while on the run, in Belgium.

Reference

AP, NY, “Russia: suspect charged with murder of journalist”, 2.6.11. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9NJQSMG0.htm, (7.6.11).

IFJ, Brussels, “IFJ Marks Fourth Anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya Murder by Call for Justice”, 7.10.10.
http://www.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-marks-fourth-anniversary-of-anna-politkovskaya-murder-by-call-for-justice#, (7.6.11).

The Guardian, Manchester, Anna Politkovskaya. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/anna-politkovskaya, (7.6.11).

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