Politkovskaya Murder Case Retried in Russia

The media interest was intense as Russia’s Supreme Court began a retrial in the murder case of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Three suspects are accused of being accomplices in the killing.

An earlier hearing collapsed over procedural violations, and now Politkovskaya’s family are petitioning for this one to be halted too.

Their lawyer says they want the case merged with another hearing into who ordered the shooting.

[Karina Moskalenko, Politkovskaya Family’s Attorney]:
„The crime is not solved yet. The investigation has not come to any final conclusions and that is why we made all these appeals today. Our goal is to not let the crime go unpunished, our goal is to see the investigation completed and the crime solved.“

Politkovskaya published exposes on rights abuses and corruption in Chechnya.

She was gunned down outside her apartment bloc in 2006 but her killer has never been caught.

Brothers Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov, and a third accused, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, were acquitted in February.

Their lawyer says it makes no difference when the retrial goes ahead.

[Murad Musayev, Defendants‘ Attorney]:
„We think that it does not matter if this case is returned to the prosecutor’s office or if it remains in this court. If the court is objective, the defendants will be acquitted.“

The 48-year-old mother of two worked for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

Following her death, President Dmitry Medvedev visited the publication’s offices.

He vowed to reform the country’s legal system and mend its poor record on solving attacks against opposition figures.

The Kremlin has denied all accusations of involvement in the journalist’s murder, adding the killing was an attempt to discredit Russia.

(NTDTV)