Retired police officer arrested over Politkovskaya murder

Russian authorities have arrested a retired senior police officer on suspicion of planning the 2006 murder of reporter Anna Politkovskaya in return for money, investigators said today.

Retired police lieutenant colonel Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov is alleged to have organised the group of men who carried out the murder at Politkovskaya's home in Moscow, as well as providing them with the murder weapon.

Politkovskaya, a columnist for bi-weekly newspaper Novaya Gazeta, rose to prominence in Russia for her criticism of the Kremlin and investigative coverage of the Chechen conflict and other social issues in the country. She was shot four times in the elevator of her apartment building in 2006, aged 48.

According to a statement from Russia's Investigative Committee, Pavlyuchenkov, who was arrested yesterday, is accused of having organised Politkovskaya's murder while head of Moscow police's surveillance and operational division.

He allegedly ordered police officers on his team to monitor Politkovskaya and chart her day-to-day movements, before planning the murder and providing the group with the weapon.

Vladimir Markin, a spokesperson for the Committee, said in a statement published by Russian state news agencies that Pavlyuchenkov arranged the killing on the orders of "an unknown individual in exchange for a monetary reward".

The Investigative Committee claims in its statement to know who is behind ordering the murder but has not given a name at this stage, saying that it is too early in the investigation to do so.

Four men were arrested on suspicion of Politkovskaya's murder in February 2009, following heavy criticism of Russian authorities over the failure to find the killers. Two were charged with aiding the killer as lookout and getaway driver and a third, a former policeman, was charged with supplying the murder weapon. All four men were acquitted.

Then in June 2009 Russia's supreme court overturned the verdict and ordered a fresh investigation, leading to the arrest of former Moscow policeman Rustam Makhmudov, brother of two of the original suspects, in June this year on suspicion of her murder.

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