8 August 2009 / REUTERS, MOSCOW
A Moscow military court on Friday turned down a petition by the family of murdered Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya intended to push authorities to find the mastermind they believe was behind her shooting.
The judge refused to halt a retrial of three alleged accomplices in her murder, who were cleared at their first trial. The family believe the retrial is a distraction from the hunt for the hunt for a man on the run believed to have pulled the trigger and further investigation into who might have ordered the hit. State prosecutors and lawyers for the defense had supported the family's petition. "We will appeal against this very strange decision by the military court," Ilya, Politkovskaya's son, told Reuters by telephone. "Everyone supported further investigation. "We want further investigation and then one court for everyone involved from the killer to the person who really ordered the murder," he said. Politkovskaya, a 48-year-old mother of two who published scathing exposes of official corruption and rights abuses, was shot as she returned to her central Moscow apartment block from the supermarket on Oct. 7, 2006.
