Politkovskaya Case Sent To Court For Trial

Anna Politkovskaya in a 2006 photo during a visit to RFE/RL's Moscow bureau

The case of the 2006 killing of Russia's prominent investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya is set to be tried again in court.

Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said on May 21 that four men from Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, his nephews Rustam, Ibragim, and Dzhabrail Makhmudov, and former policeman Sergei Khadzhikurbanov have been charged with murder and illegal weapons possession.

Three of the suspects were acquitted of the killing by a jury in 2009 and will be retried.

Another ex-policeman, Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov who agreed to cooperate with investigators was tried separately and sentenced to 11 years in December for his role in the case.

Politkovskaya was shot dead outside her apartment in Moscow.

She was known for her investigative reports on human rights abuses in Chechnya.

Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS