End of impunity and prosecution of those really responsible

The three Chechnyans accused in the trial concerning the murder of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya on 7.10.2006, the two brothers Jabrail and Ibrahim Machmudov and the former policeman Sergei Chajikurbanov, were today acquitted. The jury found the proofs put forward for their involvement in the murder to be inadequate.

"The whole trial has so far been nothing but a farce. The people with political responsibility in Russia are just not interested in arresting the real criminals. The impunity for crimes like the murder of journalists and human rights activists in Russia must be stopped”, said the GfbV consultant for Eastern Europe, Sarah Reinke, in Berlin.

The accused FSB officer Pavel Ryaguzov, who was supposed to be an informer, was also found not guilty.