Suspects arrested in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya

Arrests over Russia writer murder

Anna Politkovskaya was killed as she left her apartment buildingRussian police and security officers are among 10 suspects arrested over the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Russian authorities say.
Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika said the suspects included an officer in the FSB secret service and the leader of a Chechen organised crime gang.
The journalist, a vehement critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead near her Moscow apartment last October.
Mr Chaika said the evidence pointed to a conspiracy planned outside Russia.
Plotters 'beyond Russia'
"The individuals interested in eliminating Politkovskaya can only be ones living beyond Russia's borders," he told reporters.

The chief prosecutor was shown briefing President Putin on the case"Above all, people and structures interested in destabilising the country, changing its constitutional order, in stoking a crisis in Russia... could gain from this crime," he said.
The murder of Politkovskaya drew international condemnation, including allegations that President Putin was failing to safeguard freedom of speech.
Mr Chaika was shown on TV telling the president of the arrests, informing him that those held would soon be charged.
Careful planning
"The group was headed by a leader of a Moscow criminal group of Chechen origin," Mr Chaika said.
"Unfortunately, this group included retired and acting interior ministry and FSB (Federal Security Service) officers."
Mr Chaika said the same group may have been involved in two other high-profile murders: the 2004 killing of Paul Klebnikov, who edited the Russian version of Forbes magazine, and last year's killing of Andrei Kozlov, deputy head of the Russian central bank.
The arrested FSB officer was named as Lt Col Pavel Ryaguzov.
Mr Chaika said the Politkovskaya murder had been planned very carefully and had involved two groups keeping her under surveillance.
She was killed as she left for work. Closed circuit television footage showed a single gunman carried out the murder.
The Russian government has always strenuously denied any connection to the murder.
Politkovskaya made her name reporting from Chechnya for Russia's liberal newspaper, Novaya Gazeta.
She was also the author of two books in English, A Dirty War: A Russian Reporter in Chechnya (2001), and Putin's Russia (2004).
Her writing was often polemical, as bitter in its condemnation of the Russian army and the Russian government as it was fervent in support of human rights and the rule of law.
Novaya Gazeta chief editor Dmitry Muratov, quoted by Interfax news agency, described the investigation's findings as "very convincing and professional".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6965253.stm