The resonance of the criminal case does not affect the decision to pardon convicts if they were recruited for the war against Ukraine in the colony. This was stated by the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the early release from prison of police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, sentenced to 20 years, involved in the murder of human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya.

“There is a certain practice that is being implemented, and as far as I know, there are no exceptions to this practice. More precisely, there are exceptions, but they do not relate to the topic of the resonance of this or that case,” Peskov said.

The children of Anna Politkovskaya - Vera and Ilya Politkovsky - and the editors of Novaya Gazeta also spoke about this event: “There is nothing to comment on here. There is no one to demand. It is pointless to seek justice - she was locked in a punishment cell for discrediting the authorities. And the murderers will do what they are used to, mocking the victims, their relatives and friends, witnesses, the court, the law and the state, which turned out to be so weak that it turned to them for help and leniency. For us, this “pardon” is not evidence of atonement and repentance of the killer. This is a monstrous fact of injustice and tyranny, an outrage against the memory of a man killed for his convictions and the performance of his professional duty.”

It recently became known that police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, sentenced in 2014 to 20 years in prison, was released from prison at the end of 2022 and went to the SVO zone. At the moment he is amnestied. He is one of the organizers of the murder of human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006.