Moscow, 27 August: Three brothers, natives of Chechnya, have been arrested in connection with the murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Murad Musayev, lawyer for one of the arrested brothers, told Interfax that on 17 August Moscow's Basmannyy Court sanctioned the arrest of his client, a 25-year-old Muscovite, native of Chechnya. The young lawyer with two diplomas of higher education was put under arrest for two months.

"He has been charged with murder under Article 105(2) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. He and his brothers are considered to be accomplices in the case.

All three deny the charges," Murad Musayev said.

"During his interrogation, the investigators did not ask my client any questions about ties with businessman Boris Berezovskiy or an alleged connection with the murder of the editor of the Russian version of the Forbes magazine, Paul Klebnikov, or the murder of first deputy head of Central Bank, Andrey Kozlov," the lawyer said. (Passage omitted: Russian Prosecutor-General Yuriy Chayka's statements reported earlier)

Musayev said he feared that "this is another case where culprits will be appointed". He noted that his client was now trying to recall where he was and what he was doing on 7 October 2006, the day of Anna Politkovskaya's murder.

The lawyer said that for a long time he had not been given access to his client and that he attended only one of three interrogation sessions. The other two sessions were attended by a state-appointed lawyer, and the same lawyer was present in the courtroom when the arrest was sanctioned, Musayev said.

For now, Interfax has not received any comments from the law enforcement agencies on the lawyer's statements.