Sergey Sokolov: Politkovskaya was professionally shadowed

At the last session of the Moscow City Court, where Anna Politkovskaya's murder is considered, Sergey Sokolov, the deputy editor-in-chief of the "Novaya Gazeta", told about some of the results of the journalistic investigation conducted by the edition.

At the court session on September 12, Sergey Sokolov was questioned as a witness for the prosecution. According to his story, the edition managed to receive information about the murder of Anna Politkovskaya through an off-staff employee Roman Popkov, who arranged a meeting with Oleg Golubovich.

"Golubovich confirmed that Politkovskaya was professionally shadowed under the command of Pavlyuchenkov by his staff; one of them also confirmed the information, as well as the fact that Gaitukaev had paid, in July 2006, a certain sum of money for the shadowing," said Sokolov.

After the session, Anna Stavitskaya, who is representing the victims, explained to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Sergey Sokolov had told the court the details of the inquiry, which was conducted by the "Novaya Gazeta": "As a result of that inquiry, investigators could reach Dmitri Pavlyuchenkov," she said.

In their turn, the defence advocates claimed that the witness had learnt most of the details from the words of Golubovich, while personally Sokolov possesses no information, as he was not an eyewitness to the murder.