Russia charges nine in journalist's case

(Gulfnews) - Moscow: Prosecutors have charged nine people, including a lieutenant colonel in Russia's security service, with involvement in the murder of anti-Kremlin journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a news agency said yesterday.

Politkovskaya, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead in October 2006 in her Moscow apartment building. Her killing aroused international indignation and led to pressure on Putin to ensure the crime was solved.

Vyacheslav Smirnov, an official of the prosecutor-general's office, told a Moscow city court that "nine people have been charged in the [Politkovskaya] criminal case", the Interfax news agency reported.

Earlier, Russian news agencies quoted a source close to the investigation as saying charges had been laid against Lieutenant-Colonel Pavel Ryaguzov of the Federal Security Service (FSB) for abuse of office.

Ryaguzov was first arrested in August in connection with another case and his name was also mentioned by investigators working on the Politkovskaya affair.

The FSB agent was alleged to have passed on details of the journalist's address to another suspect, who in turn gave them to the killer, Russian agencies quoted investigators as saying.

A team of lawyers hired by Politkovskaya's relatives lodged a complaint with a Moscow court, saying the investigators looking into the journalist's murder were barring their access to the materials of the case, said one of the lawyers.