Russia

Supreme court orders retrial in Politkovskaya murder case

Article published on the 2009-06-25 Latest update 2009-06-25 11:36 TU

Anna Politkovskaya, in Germany in 2005.
(Photo: AFP)

The Russian Supreme Court has overturned the innocent verdicts handed to the three men accused of killing journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006. The verdict had been handed down to the suspects by a lower court. The Supreme court has ordered a retrial.

The ruling followed a complaint brought by the prosecution which had demanded a cancellation of the verdict, and a new investigation.

Right-wing groups have criticised Russia’s failure to bring to justice the killers of Politkovskaya, who had been highly critical of Kremlin in the course of her work.

The three suspects, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, Dzarbrail and Ibragim Makhmudov are at large.

Human Right groups say it is those who ordered the killing who should be in the dock.

Politkovskaya, who gained prominence by exposing human rights abuses by the Russian army in Chechnya, was shot dead in the entrance hall of her apartment building in Moscow in 2006.

A lawyer for the defendants described the Supreme Court's decision as "political" and said he would contest it in the European Court of Human Rights.

The lawyer representing Anna Politskovskaya's family also denounced the Supreme Court's ruling, saying they had not been seeking to overturn the acquittal.

The family had agreed that the prosecution had failed to put together a convincing case against the three men.