Pavlyuchenkov, suspected of murdering Politkovskaya, indicted

As announced by Vladimir Markin, spokesperson of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), inspectors are presenting indictment to Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, a former employee of the Moscow GUVD (Chief Interior Department) and an alleged participant in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an observer of the "Novaya Gazeta".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the retired Militia Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov was detained on August 23 on suspicion of organizing the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. The court satisfied the motion of the investigation and restricted Pavlyuchenkov's freedom by arresting him. On August 26, the Basmanny Court of Moscow sanctioned the arrest of the former militia officer.

"Within the criminal case on Anna Politkovskaya's murder, the Chief Investigatory Department of the ICRF is today indicting the former Militia Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov under Part 2, Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code, namely 'Murder related to one's service activities, organized by a hired group of persons," said Mr Markov.

He added that since Pavlyuchenkov's detention, in the course of investigatory actions, his role in preparing the crime was clarified, the ITAR-TASS reports.

"According to the investigation, in July 2006, Lom-Ali Gaitukaev received an order from an unidentified person to kill for money Anna Politkovskaya, an observer of the 'Novaya Gazeta'. For this purpose Gaitukaev set up a criminal grouping, which included Pavlyuchenkov, Gaitukaev's nephews named Makhmudov, and Sergey Khadzhikurbanov, a former employee of the Central Regional Directorate for Combating Organized Crime of the Moscow GUVD, who came at large from prison in September 2006," said the ICRF spokesperson.

The investigation has established that Pavlyuchenkov, being at that time the head of a section of Division 4 of the Operative-Search Department of the Moscow GUVD, which was engaged in surveillance (shadowing), instructed his subordinates to shadow the journalist and figure out her routes and schedule of daily movements in the city. The information received by Pavlyuchenkov and the murder weapon were delivered to the direct gunman Rustam Makhmudov and his accomplices, who maintained, several days before the crime, Anna Politkovskaya's shadowing, the RAPSI (Russian Agency of Legal and Judicial Information) reports with reference to the investigation.