One of the defendants in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya was released early and is participating in the “SVO”

Police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2014, was released from the colony at the end of 2022 and went to the Northern Military District zone. He is one of the organizers of the murder of human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya and was supposed to be released in 2034, Baza reports. However, at the moment he is amnestied.

Anna Politkovskaya was killed on October 7, 2006 in the elevator of her Moscow building. Her materials on the topic of the second Russian-Chechen war gained great popularity: the human rights activist wrote about murders, torture and abductions in the North Caucasus. Politkovskaya conducted investigations into corruption in the Ministry of Defense and the command of the United Group of Federal Forces in Chechnya. Since 2003, she has accused the Chechen leadership of kidnappings, extortion and other crimes. Anna Politkovskaya harshly criticized the Russian authorities, in particular President Vladimir Putin.

In June 2014, the Moscow City Court sentenced Rustam Makhmudov and Lom-Ali Gaitukaev (the latter died in prison) to life sentences for those accused of murdering human rights activist. Their accomplices Ibragim and Jebrail Makhmudov, as well as former police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, received 12, 13.5 and 20 years in a maximum security colony, respectively.

Former police colonel Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov made a deal with the investigation and received 11 years. His sentence expired in February 2023.

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