The Russian supreme court Thursday ordered that the case against three alleged accomplices to journalist Anna Politkovskaya’s murder should be returned to the prosecutor’s office for further investigation, overturning a lower court ruling on August 7 blocking this possibility.
A representative of the prosecutor general said the investigation into the accomplices would be combined with the investigation into those who carried out Politkovskaya’s October 2006 murder and those who ordered it.
“Like Politkovskaya’s relatives, who appealed against the August 7 decision, we are relieved by the supreme court’s ruling,” Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) said. “Sending the case back for further investigation revives a degree of hope that the facts may yet emerge. We nonetheless fear that the security forces will block all attempts to solve this murder. More effort and more vigilance are needed if the truth is ever to be established.”
"We welcome the decision to further investigate the case against three suspected accomplices in the murder of our colleague Anna Politkovskaya before sending it to trial," Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said.
"We are encouraged by the joining of that case with the investigation into the killer and mastermind of this brutal crime. We call on Russia's investigative authorities to probe every lead, question every witness, track down every suspect, and examine all evidence thoroughly. Only with all perpetrators in the dock will justice begin to be done."
