Investigators have detained the suspected organizer of the murder of journalistAnna Politkovskayain 2006 — who, it turns out, was a mumbling secret witness for prosecutors at a failed trial into her killing.
Politkovskaya's family and colleagues welcomed the development but said it should have come years ago. They also voiced fears the suspect, retired senior Moscow police investigator Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, would be made a scapegoat, allowing the still-unidentified mastermind of the killing to evade justice.
Pavlyuchenkov was detained late Tuesday, and a Moscow district court is expected to authorize his arrest Thursday, the Investigative Committee said.
Investigators believe that Pavlyuchenkov arranged the murder of Politkovskaya, a Novaya Gazeta reporter who was shot dead in her apartment building in downtown Moscow, after being contacted by the mastermind, the committee said in a
The committee did not specify the price of the contract killing but said it "has information about the alleged mastermind of the crime." No details were available.
The committee said Pavlyuchenkov assembled a team to carry out the killing. Earlier reports said the team comprised three Chechen brothers with the surname Makhmudov — ...