• Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, ex-Moscow police officer in Anna Politkovskaya’s 2006 murder, pardoned.
• Received clemency after a 20-year sentence, completing a Ukraine military contract.
• Khadzhikurbanov provided logistical support; one of five convicted in the case.

A former Moscow police officer, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, convicted in the 2006 murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, has been granted a presidential pardon.

Khadzhikurbanov, sentenced to 20 years in 2014, received clemency after completing a six-month military contract in Ukraine.

The journalist, known for her investigative work and criticism of Russia’s actions in Chechnya, was shot in her apartment building’s elevator.

Khadzhikurbanov, one of five convicted in the case, was found guilty of providing logistical support for the murder.

“As a special forces fighter, [Khadzhikurbanov] was invited to sign a contract to participate in the special military operation,” his lawyer told AFP.

“When the contract expired, he was pardoned by presidential decree.”

The Russian defense ministry is reportedly enlisting prisoners to join the conflict in Ukraine, a strategy seemingly succeeding the Wagner mercenary group’s adoption of this practice last year.

Rustam Makhmudov, sentenced to life in 2014 for pulling the trigger in the murder trial, and his uncle Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, convicted of organizing the killing of Ms. Politkovskaya, both received life sentences.

Makhmudov’s brothers, Dzhabrail and Ibragim, were sentenced to 14 and 12 years in a penal colony.

The mastermind behind Ms. Politkovskaya’s murder remains unidentified.

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