Russian convicted over Anna Politkovskaya’s murder pardoned after fighting in Ukraine

Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was given a 20-year prison sentence in 2014 for his role in organising the murder of Politkovskaya, a prominent reporter at the liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta who was shot dead in 2006 in the lift of her Moscow apartment block.

Khadzhikurbanov’s lawyer, Alexei Mikhalchik, told Russian media on Tuesday that his client received a presidential pardon after completing a six-month military contract in Ukraine and had since remained in the armed forces.