MOSCOW, August 12 (RAPSI) – A Russian court has subpoenaed 12 witnesses in the murder trial of investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya.
The prosecutor said during a hearing at the Moscow City Court on Monday that the witnesses were not available at the addresses they had provided, so in order for their testimonies to be heard they must be ordered to appear before court.
Politkovskaya, who harshly criticized the Kremlin and authorities of Russia’s North Caucasus region in her stories for the opposition-leaning Novaya Gazeta newspaper, was gunned down in the elevator of her apartment building on October 7, 2006. Her murder caused an international outcry amid widespread allegations of government involvement.
The five suspects, who have pleaded not guilty, include former police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov; three Makhmudov brothers – Rustam, Ibragim and Dzhabrail – and their uncle Lom-Ali Gaitukayev.
A sixth suspect, former police officer Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, who earlier signed a plea bargain, gave evidence against his accomplices and was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December 2012.
The investigators believe that Rustam Makhmudov committed the murder with the help of his brothers Ibragim and Dzhabrail, their uncle and Khadzhikurbanov.
