Five men have been convicted of the 2006 murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Russia, according to reports.
Politkovskaya, who was known for her fearless reporting from Chechnya, was shot dead, with her body found inside a lift in her apartment building.
Another jury acquitted three men, who were found guilty yesterday, of murder in 2009. This verdict was thrown out by the supreme court and a new trial was ordered, according to Reuters.
The lawyer for the defendants in this year's trial – brothers Rustam, Ibragim and Dzhabrail Makhmudov, their uncle Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, and ex-police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov – said they would appeal.
Despite the convictions, protestors and the family of Politkovskaya, who worked at the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, have said that justice will not have been done until those who ordered her killing are found and convicted as well.
The RIA news agency quotes the family lawyer, Anna Stavitskaya, as saying: “The murder will only be solved when the name of the person who ordered it is known.”
News agencies in Russia reported a federal investigative committee spokesman, Vladimir Markin, as saying everything possible was being done to find out who was behind the killing. But according to Reuters, critics of the Kremlin say they doubt this, because it could lead too close to the government.
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