MOSCOW, August 28 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has charged four of 10 suspects currently in custody accused of last year's murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a defense lawyer said Tuesday.

Anna Politkovskaya, known for her criticism of Kremlin policy in Chechnya, was gunned down in an apparent contract killing in an elevator of her apartment block on October 7, 2006 in Moscow, at the age of 48. On Monday the Russian prosecutor general said 10 suspects had been arrested as part of the murder investigation.

Murad Musayev, a defense lawyer for one of the detained, said, "I can say for certain that charges have been pressed against four people, including my client."

He said that charges on complicity to murder were filed against Chechen-born Dzhabrail Makhmudov, Ibragim Makhmudov, Tamerlan Makhmudov, and Magomed Dimelkhanov.

"I know nothing about the other six, but probably they have been charged as well, because a person cannot be held in a pretrial detention for more than 10 days without being charged," Musayev said.

Russia's chief prosecutor also announced Monday that a Chechen-born leader of a Moscow organized crime group, known to the journalist, had masterminded the murder, and said former and serving security and police officers had been arrested in the investigation.