MOSCOW, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow District Military Court ruled again Monday that the arrest of Federal Security Service (FSB) Lt. Col. Pavel Ryaguzov, a suspect in the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, was unlawful.
On September 6 a Moscow military court re-authorized the arrest of Ryaguzov after its initial sanction was turned down by the Moscow District Military Court on September 4.
Andrei Trepykhalin, a lawyer for Ryaguzov, said earlier the arrest of his defendant was based on other charges, which were completely unconnected with the Politkovskaya murder.
The lawyer said that the Russian Prosecutor General's office did not inform Ryaguzov's defense team of the investigation into Politkovskaya's murder, and that it was unclear what his client's status was in the case.
Ryaguzov, who was initially arrested August 21, is charged with abuse of office, abduction and illegal entry of premises, offenses that he allegedly committed in 2002, Trepykhalin said.
Two weeks ago Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika announced that 10 people, "including direct organizers, accomplices and perpetrators of the crime," had been arrested in the Politkovskaya murder case.
Anna Politkovskaya, known for her criticism of the Kremlin's policy in Chechnya, was gunned down in an apparent contract killing in an elevator of her apartment building October 7, 2006 in Moscow, aged 48.
