The state newspaper Rossiiskaya gazeta announced yesterday that the Anna Politkovskaya murder case will soon go to court.
An official representative from the Investigation Committee saidthat charges have been made against three people: Sergei Khadzhikurbanov (he bought the murder weapon), and Dzhabrail and Ibrahim Makhmudov (they were accomplices). Former FSB agent Pavel Riaguzov, who is accused abusing his position and extortion, was already charged. The General Prosecutor plans on submitting the investigative material to the court by the end of the week. The case could be tried either in a Moscow city court or a military court said Murad Musaev, the defendants lawyer.
This however is only part of the case. Rustam Makhmudov, the suspected triggerman, is still on the loose and believed to be hidiing n Western Europe. Who ordered the hit still remains a mystery.
The editors of Novaya gazeta, which is conducting its own investigation, has yet to officially comment. However, one unnamed colleague of Politkovskaya’s told Moskovskii komsomolets that the court case “could reveal some extremely interesting facts.” We shall see.
The second anniversary of Politkovskaya’s murder will be on 6 October. There is no doubt that the filing of charges is intended to coincide with it. Call it a preemptive PR strike by the General Prosecutor’s office.
