Murderer Anna Politkovskaja possibly hiding in Belgium

MOSCOW - The murderer of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya is hidden somewhere in Western Europe according to the chairman of the inquiry commission of the Russian prosecutor, Alexander Bastrykin. A Russian radio station believes that the murderer is hiding in Belgium. According to the press agency Interfax, the Russian prosecutor requested judicial assistance from various Western European countries, including Belgium.

"According to our information, the murderer is hiding in Western Europe, we even know in which country," said Bastrykin without further going into details during a seminar in Saint Petersburg according to the press agency Interfax.

Radio Echo in Moscow reported that the suspected killer is staying in Belgium and that Russia "has already submitted a request for his extradition." A journalist from that radiochannel said that the information was obtained from a judicial source.

Anna Politkovskaya, one of the rare (Russian) journalists who has denounced human rights abuses in Russia, particularly in Chechnya, was killed on the 7th of October 2006 in the hall of her apartment building in Moscow.

So far three people have officially been indicted for the murder of the Russian journalist, the Russian prosecutor stated on the 18th of June after concluding the investigation. Their names are Sergei Chadjikurbanov and two Chechnyan brothers Djabraïl and Ibragim Machmudov.

Human rights organisations regularly complain about the lack of zeal of the Russian authorities regarding investigations into the killings of journalists who's numbers have increased exponentially since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

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Source: afp,Interfax