New suspect in Politkovskaya's murder case detained

MOSCOW, August 24 (Itar-Tass) - A former police colonel, Dmitry
Pavlyuchenkov, has become a suspect in the murder case of Anna
Politkovskaya, an observer of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper.
Pavlyuchenkov used to be a witness in Politkovskaya's case. He was
detained during interrogation on Tuesday.
"Investigators believe that Pavlyuchenkov received an order from an
unidentified person to organize Politkovskaya's murder for a monetary
reward. He accepted the offer and organized a crime group, which included
the Makhmudov brothers," Vladimir Markin, an official representative of
the Russian Investigative Committee, told Itar-Tass.
"Pavlyuchenkov promised to reward the perpetrators, obtained a pistol
and handed the weapon over to the killers. He also informed them of the
journalist's address and the model of a car in which she moved around the
city," Markin went on to say.
They kept an eye on Politkovskaya for three days. On October 7, 2006
the journalist was killed in the entrance of her apartment building on
Lesnaya Street in the centre of Moscow.
Sergei Sokolov, the deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, told
Itar-Tass that Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov was supposed to be presented with
charges of organizing a murder.
Investigators may ask the court to arrest him on Wednesday.
At present, Pavlyuchenkov is kept in a temporary detention facility.
He attended the first trial of Politkovskaya's murder as a witness.
According to Novaya Gazeta, he tried to misinform investigators about his
complicity in the murder. He tried to be useful to investigation as a
valuable source of information which he had allegedly got from the
defendants.
"A criminal lawsuit against Pavlyuchenkov's former friend Sergei
Khadzhikurbanov was filed following an application from Dmitry
Pavlyuchenkov. The latter accused Khadzhikurbanov of extorting a huge sum
of money," Novaya Gazeta writes.
"Today, the investigation has enough witness evidence exposing
Pavlyuchenkov, including those received from the journalists of Novaya
Gazeta who carried out their own investigation into their colleague's
murder and the defendant's lawyers," Novaya Gazeta writes.
The deadline for investigation of Anna Politkovskaya's murder has been
extended several times. The last time it was prolonged in May until
September 7, 2011.
The former policeman Sergei Khadzhikurbanov and brothers Dzhabrail and
Ibragim Makhmudov were charged with complicity in the murder. A separate
case was opened against the fourth participant, Rustam Makhmudov, who's
believed to be the direct perpetrator. Rustam Makhmudov is on an
international wanted list. The Interior Ministry, the Federal Security
Service and the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service as well as the
Interpol are searching for him.
On February 20, 2009 the Moscow district military court acquitted
three defendants on the basis of the jury's verdict. On June 25, the
Russian Supreme Court overruled the verdict and ordered a new
investigation that started on August 5, 2009.
Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was sentenced to 8 years in prison in February
2010 on a charge of extorting 350,000 dollars.