Former Moscow police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2014 for his role in conspiring the murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya. His lawyer, Alexei Mikhalchik, announced that after completing a six-month military contract fighting in Ukraine, Khadzhikurbanov was pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In a joint statement, Novaya Gazeta and Politkovskaya’s family condemned the early release from jail and stated: “For us, this ‘pardon’ is not an act of redemption and repentance on the murderer’s part. It is a monstrous fact of injustice and arbitrariness, an insult to the memory of a person killed for their beliefs and for carrying out their professional duty.”
Politkovskaya, an internationally renowned Kremlin critic who regularly exposed human rights abuses by Russian forces in Chechnya, was shot in the entrance to her block of flats on 7 October 2006. Her assassination sparked protests and demonstrations around the world in sympathy for her family and demanding justice.
Almost 8 years and 2 trials after her death, at the murder trial in 2014, three Chechen brothers, their uncle and the former police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov were sentenced to prison. Rustam Makhmudov was sentenced for life and accused of allegedly pulling the trigger together with his uncle Lom-Ali Gaitukayev. His two brothers Dzhabrail and Ibragim were sentenced to 14 and 12 years in a penal colony. The mastermind behind Anna Politkovskaya’s murder was never identified.
IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “The pardon of one of Anna Politkovskaya’s murderer makes a mockery of justice and convey the message that it is ok to kill a journalist and get away with it. We strongly condemn this pardon and urge the Russian judicial authorities to bring all the perpetrators tojustice, including the mastermind behind this hideous crime. Anna’s family, the journalist community and the public have the right to know.”