Two Men Get Life Sentences for Anna Politkovskaya Murder

cage L-R) Ibragim Makhmudov, Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, Rustam Makhmudov, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, defendants in the trial over the alleged murder of journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya. Photo: EPA/BGNES

Two men have been given life sentences by a Moscow court for the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, reports BBC.

Rustam Makhmudov was given a life sentence for pulling the trigger. His uncle Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, one of those found guilty of organising the murder, was also jailed for life. 

The three others convicted of the killing - two of whom are Makhmudov's brothers - were given between 12 and 20 years in prison.

The prosecution had pushed for tougher sentences.

Three of the men had earlier been acquitted but Russia's supreme court ordered a retrial. Investigators have not determined who ordered the killing.

Politkovskaya, an investigative reporter and vocal critic of Russia's war in Chechnya, was shot in a lift in her block of flats in 2006. 

Last year a former police officer, Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for supplying the murder weapon.

Politkovskaya's family say they will continue to campaign until the person who ordered the killing is uncovered.

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