Rights campaigners on Wednesday called on Russian authorities to track down the mastermind behind the 2006 killing of prominent investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya after five men were convicted in her murder.
A Russian court meanwhile put off a hearing on the sentencing of the men, who were convicted on Tuesday of organising and carrying out the killing of the prominent Kremlin critic.
The Moscow City Court adjourned the hearing until May 27 due to the absence of three lawyers, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
A jury found the five men guilty of planning the killing on October 7, 2006, and firing the fatal shots as Politkovskaya entered the hallway of her apartment block in a crime that shocked the world and cast a shadow over President Vladimir Putin's second term in office.
Politkovskaya's family and supporters said they agreed with the verdict and the investigation's findings, but stressed that for justice to be done, those who ordered the murder must also be brought to trial.
Investigators have failed to identify the mastermind behind the apparent contract killing of the journalist and rights campaigner who fearlessly criticised the Kremlin's actions in Chechnya in liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
The head of Amnesty International's office in Russia, Sergei Nikitin, said in a statement: "Authorities in Russia must demonstrate with concrete actions that they are trying to establish who wanted Anna Politkovskaya dead. Those who ordered her killing must be identified and face justice."
Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov praised the "brilliant investigators" to Interfax news agency, but called for the "case to be reopened to find the mastermind of this monstrous crime".
The guilty verdict came after an earlier trial of three of the same defendants ended in acquittals. The supreme court then halted a retrial and sent the case back for further investigation.
Convicted of the murder were a former Moscow policeman and four Chechens from a single family including Rustam Makhmudov, the man convicted of lying in wait for Politkovskaya and gunning her down.
A lawyer for Politkovskaya's son Ilya and daughter Vera on Wednesday sued for compensation of 5 million rubles ($145,000) from the men convicted.
Rights campaigners on Wednesday called on Russian authorities to track down the mastermind behind the 2006 killing of prominent investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya after five men were convicted in her murder.
A Russian court meanwhile put off a hearing on the sentencing of the men, who were convicted on Tuesday of organising and carrying out the killing of the prominent Kremlin critic.
The Moscow City Court adjourned the hearing until May 27 due to the absence of three lawyers, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
A jury found the five men guilty of planning the killing on October 7, 2006, and firing the fatal shots as Politkovskaya entered the hallway of her apartment block in a crime that shocked the world and cast a shadow over President Vladimir Putin’s second term in office.
Politkovskaya’s family and supporters said they agreed with the verdict and the investigation’s findings, but stressed that for justice to be done, those who ordered the murder must also be brought to trial.
Investigators have failed to identify the mastermind behind the apparent contract killing of the journalist and rights campaigner who fearlessly criticised the Kremlin’s actions in Chechnya in liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
The head of Amnesty International’s office in Russia, Sergei Nikitin, said in a statement: “Authorities in Russia must demonstrate with concrete actions that they are trying to establish who wanted Anna Politkovskaya dead. Those who ordered her killing must be identified and face justice.”
Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov praised the “brilliant investigators” to Interfax news agency, but called for the “case to be reopened to find the mastermind of this monstrous crime”.
The guilty verdict came after an earlier trial of three of the same defendants ended in acquittals. The supreme court then halted a retrial and sent the case back for further investigation.
Convicted of the murder were a former Moscow policeman and four Chechens from a single family including Rustam Makhmudov, the man convicted of lying in wait for Politkovskaya and gunning her down.
A lawyer for Politkovskaya’s son Ilya and daughter Vera on Wednesday sued for compensation of 5 million rubles ($145,000) from the men convicted.
