12:00, 23 August 2011

Ex-militia lieutenant-colonel detained on Politkovskaya murder case Retired

Lieutenant-Colonel Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov was detained on suspicion of organizing the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, said Vladimir Markin, the official spokesman of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in June the charge of murdering the observer of "Novaya Gazeta" Anna Politkovskaya was presented to Rustam Makhmudov, who was detained earlier, on May 31, in his parents' house in Chechnya. He was convoyed to Moscow. The criminal investigation has been extended until September 7, 2011.

"I confirm that Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, the former section head of the 4th division of the Moscow operative-search department of the Moscow GUVD (Chief Interior Administration)," Mr Markin said today.

According to the spokesman of the ICRF, "Pavlyuchenkov is suspected of receiving in late July 2006 from an unidentified person an order to organize the murder of Anna Politkovskaya and organized it," the RIA "Novosti" reports.