The judge presiding over the trial of three men accused of involvement in the murder of the Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya has done a u-turn and ruled that the trial will done in secret.

The decision, which has caused outrage from colleagues, friends and family of Politkovskaya, was made because jurors were afraid that their lives would be in danger.

Activists have suggested that the ruling was part of a campaign to cover up the murder of Politkovskaya, who was strongly critical of  Kremlin’s policies in Chechnya in her career, before being shot outside her flat in Moscow two years ago.