A former Moscow police officer who was convicted of the murder of a journalist nearly two decades ago has been pardoned in exchange for fighting in Ukraine.
Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2014 for organizing the 2006 shooting death of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. He shortened his reputation by volunteering for a six-month contract for the Ukraine war last year, his lawyer, Alexei Mikhalchik, told the RBC news outlet.
“Then he was pardoned and now participates in [the war in Ukraine] as a soldier having signed a [second] contract with the Ministry of Defense,” Mijalchik explained.
Similar prisoner schemes were previously reported to be a favorite tactic of the Wagner Group, although it is unclear whether Khadzhikurbanov joined the paramilitary unit, according to The Guardian.
Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of Anna Politkovskaya.REUTERS
Politkovskaya’s former employer, Noyava Gazeta, and her children, Ilya and Vera, issued a joint statement calling the pardon “a monstrous injustice and arbitrariness, an outrage against the memory of a person murdered for his convictions and the performance of his duty.” professional”.
“For us, this ‘forgiveness’ is not proof of the murderer’s redemption and remorse,” the statement added, according to the BBC.
Politkovskaya, who gained international attention for her tenacious coverage of Russian atrocities in Chechnya as well as her criticism of Vladimir Putin’s first regime, was 48 when she was shot dead outside her Moscow apartment.
Anna Politkovskaya was shot outside her Moscow apartment in 2006. Fairfax Media via Getty Images
Khadzhikurbanov was convicted of the murder in 2014 along with four men from Chechnya.
Rustam Makhmudov received a life sentence for pulling the trigger, the BBC said, while his two brothers, Dzhabrail and Ibragim, were sentenced to 14 and 12 years in a penal colony respectively.
Makhmudov’s uncle, Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, was also sentenced to life in prison for helping to organize the alleged coup.
Khadzhikurbanov took advantage of the military pardon plan last year.REUTERS
However, to this day it is unclear who requested or contracted Politkovskaya’s assassination.
The Russian military has reportedly recruited tens of thousands of prisoners to fight in Ukraine since the summer of 2022, The Guardian noted.
Convicts are supposedly promised that if they fight for six months on the front, they will be pardoned from the rest of their sentence, the outlet explained.
People light candles next to a portrait of Anna Politkovskaya during a demonstration in St. Petersburg shortly after her murder.REUTERS
Under Russian law, Putin must personally approve pardons.
The policy has sparked controversy both within Russia and abroad, as critics fear the plan will allow dangerous criminals to wreak havoc on civilians.
Last week, Russian media alleged that Vladislav Kanyus, sentenced to 17 years in prison for the rape and fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend in 2020, had returned to society after a tour of duty in Ukraine with the Wagner Group, reported Newsweek.
Sergei Khadzhikurbanov (back) photographed with fellow suspect Ibragim Makhmudov, who was sentenced to more than 10 years in a penal colony. AFP via Getty Images
“They atone in blood for the crimes committed on the battlefield, in the assault brigades, under bullets, under shells,” Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told bewildered journalists about the decision to pardon Kanyus. and other murderers.
With postal cables
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Source: vtt.edu.vn