Court upholds arrest of supposed Politkovskaya's killer

The Moscow City Court has upheld the extension until December 7 the custody of Rustam Makhmudov, accused of murdering journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the press service of the court reports.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Rustam Makhmudov, who was detained on May 31 in his parents' house in Chechnya, was accused of killing Anna Politkovskaya. He was convoyed to Moscow; now, his custody has been extended until September 7. The court session to decide the extension took place behind closed doors. The Basmanny Court of Moscow has extended Makhmudov's custody by another three months, that is, until December 7. The defence has appealed against this decision.

"The cassation panel of Moscow City Court has upheld the decision of the Basmanny Court to extend Makhmudov's custody," The RAPSI (Russian Agency of Legal and Judicial Information) quotes the press service of the court.

The "Caucasian Knot" wrote that on February 20, 2009, the judge of the Moscow District Military Court found - based on the acquittal verdict of the jury - the former MIA employee Sergey Khadjikurbanov and two Makhmudov brothers - Ibragim and Djabrail - non-guilty of murdering Politkovskaya. In May 2009, the General Prosecutor's Office appealed against the above acquittal verdict at the Supreme Court; after which the case was returned to the Moscow District Military Court for reconsideration.

The accusation of murdering the observer of the "Novaya Gazeta" Anna Politkovskaya was also presented to the ex-employee of the Moscow GUVD (Chief Interior Department) Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov. The retired Militia Lieutenant Colonel Pavlyuchenkov was detained on August 23 on suspicion of organizing Anna Politkovskaya's murder. On August 26, the Basmanny Court of Moscow sanctioned the arrest of the former militia officer. According to unofficial data, Pavlyuchenkov concluded a deal with the investigation and is no longer considered the organizer of the crime. Now, the investigation believes that the crime was organized by the businessman from Chechnya Lom-Ali Gaitukaev.