Unknown face

The investigation in the case ofthe murder of Anna Politkovskaya again reached the finish line. Changes are significant. A little more than a year ago, Rustam Mahmudov, declared killer, was detained. Former Lieutenant Colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, who previously passed as a secret witness, is now considered an accomplice in the crime, admits his guilt, passes the accomplices and sits under house arrest. Unlike the authoritative Chechen, Lom-Ali Gaitukaev and the former operative Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, who dispute the testimony of Pavlyuchenkov and are in jail.

However, the main question - about the customer of the murder - still remains open.

True, Pavlyuchenkov himself, thinking aloud about customers, confidently calls the emigrants of Berezovsky and Zakayev, but this rather indicates the political literacy of the ex-lieutenant colonel than that he is telling the truth. In general, it is noticed that the killers, wanting to get to the authorities, often recall Boris Abramovich, and the authorities benevolently listens to their testimonies, but without much interest. Either the evidence is not enough, as in the investigation in the case of the murder of Vladislav Listyev, or the power competently works with public opinion. There is no evidence, but the people still vaguely guesses who we have the main pest and organizer of the custom-made murders.

However, the Investigative Committee is not much fond of politics and speak much more carefully on this subject. The customer in the indictment is called the "unidentified person", who was "unhappy ... by the exposure of" Politkovskaya "on human rights violations, theft of state property and abuse of powers by officials." That is, the circle of suspects, if you follow this text, moves from London to Moscow or the Terrible, and here we can even assume that the SKR employees know the name of the customer, but for the reasons for the irresistible property, they can neither arrest, arrest, or to attract him to the answer.

By the way, “unidentified face” is one of the most long and elusive defendants in such matters. And without it, all the processes associated with political killings look somewhat ambiguous, if not pointless. In fact, what claims have accumulated to Politkovskaya from the same Pavlyuchenkov or Makhmudov? What had a certain Kolchin, convicted of her murder against Galina Starovoyova? One can also recall a completely old, undisclosed case of the death of Dmitry Kholodov, according to which people who looked like killers were justified. But even if the former paratroopers left fair retaliation, it is still not clear why they needed to blow up a young journalist?

All this was in the best (for prosecutors) cases of performers, gear links, professionals on the patch. And they were loomed by completely different citizens who were sometimes even accused aloud, but with the hopelessness that implied powerlessness. And who would dare to raise a hand on such people? They had personal scores with the dead, which was well known, but this knowledge was neither a step brought by either society or investigators to the unraveling of political murders.

That is why the next process in the case of the death of Politkovskaya causes rather painful feelings. Contractors seem to be caught, some are even sitting in prison, but their fault is not so great with the customer of the crime as to talk about the failed retaliation. And while it is not established, any confessions do not look too reliable. And the verdict, if the court does not end, as the last time, the justification of the defendants, will not allow the assertion that a point was put in the case of the murder of Anna Politkov.