Convicted of organizing Politkovskaya's murder dies in prison

Lom-Ali Gaitukaev, sentenced to life for organizing the murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya, died in a colony, reports , citing an informed source. RIA Novosti

“Gaytukaev died in the colony,” the agency’s interlocutor said, adding that Gaitukaev “suffered from a number of illnesses.”

Information about the death of the convict was confirmed by the press service of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Vologda Region, writes RBC.

Lawyer Muslim Dzhamalutdinov, in a conversation with Mediazona, also confirmed Gaitukaev’s death “according to relatives.”

As the lawyer said, Gaitukaev had recently been in a medical institution of the Federal Penitentiary Service in Vologda, he had liver disease. According to the lawyer, the conditions of detention in the prison hospital were insufficient to treat his client.

In 2014, Chechen crime boss Gaitukaev was sentenced to life in prison for organizing the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. Rustam Makhmudov, who shot the journalist, also received a life sentence. Two Makhmudov brothers, Ibragim and Dzhabrail, were sentenced to 12 and 13.5 years in prison as accomplices.

In addition, former RUBOP employee Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was sentenced to 20 years in the case of Politkovskaya’s murder. Through his lawyer, he spoke about the visit of “certain employees” to IK-5 of Mordovia, where he is serving his sentence. According to Khadzhikurbanov, they demanded testimony against Boris Berezovsky and Chechen businessman Khozh-Akhmet Nukhaev in the Politkovskaya case. After complaints about pressure from operatives, the convict was transferred to the EPKT.