#3 - JRL 2007-183 - JRL Home
Politkovskaya's son says probe results announced
prematurely
MOSCOW, August 27 (RIA Novosti) - The son of murdered Russian investigative
journalist Anna Politkovskaya said he did not doubt prosecutors' investigation
findings, but that preliminary results should not have been made public.
Russia's chief prosecutor announced earlier 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.
Ilya Politkovsky told RIA Novosti: "We do not doubt the results of the
investigation. Powerful work has been done in all directions: the perpetrator,
organizer, the client, and so on."
However, he said the Prosecutor General's office should not have made
investigation findings public, and that the premature announcement of suspect
names could compromise the investigation.
"Specific names were mentioned today. In my opinion, this is divulging
investigation secrets, and it could affect the further course of the
investigation."
Anna Politkovskaya, known for her criticism of the Kremlin's 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.
Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said earlier Monday that 10 people, "including
direct organizers, accomplices and perpetrators of the crime," had been arrested
in the case.
"Unfortunately, one former and one serving police official, and an officer
from the FSB, participated in surveillance and intelligence gathering on
Politkovskaya...They have also been arrested," he said.
However, a senior police official denied that there were serving policemen
among the detainees in the Politkovskaya case. "There is no single serving
officer among the group of people detained or arrested so far in the Anna
Politkovskaya murder case," Police Major General Yury Karasyov told journalists.
The chief prosecutor said the arrested former security officials organized
surveillance and gathered information, making them accomplices in the murder.
The gang leader who masterminded Politkovskaya's killing was well-known to the
journalist, and the two had met, Chaika said.
He said the suspect is currently abroad, but declined to name him. "I can't
give his name, as the investigation is still underway," he said.
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