Man convicted of Russian journalist’s murder pardoned for serving in Ukraine

A former Moscow police officer who was convicted for the murder of a journalist nearly two decades ago has been pardoned in exchange for fighting in Ukraine.

Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was sentenced to 20 years behind bars in 2014 for organizing the 2006 shooting death of investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya. He cut his rap short by volunteering for a six-month contract for the Ukraine war last year, his lawyer, Alexei Mikhalchik, told the RBC news outlet.

“He was then pardoned and now participates in [the war in Ukraine] as a military man having signed a [second] contract with the defense ministry,” Mikhalchik explained.

Similar prisoner schemes were previously reported to be a favorite tactic of the Wagner Group, though it is not clear if Khadzhikurbanov joined the paramilitary unit, according to The Guardian.

Politkovskaya’s former employer, Noyava Gazeta, and her children, Ilya and Vera, issued a joint statement calling the pardon “a monstrous injustice and arbitrariness, an outrage against the memory of a person killed for her convictions and the performance of her professional duty.”

“For us, this ‘pardon’ is not evidence of the redemption and remorse of the murderer,” the statement added, according to the BBC.

Politkovskaya – who drew international attention for her dogged coverage of Russian atrocities in Chechnya as well as her criticism of Vladimir Putin’s early regime – was 48 years old when she was gunned down outside her Moscow apartment.

Khadzhikurbanov was sent down for the killing in 2014 alongside four men from Chechnya.

Rustam Makhmudov received a life sentence for pulling the trigger, the BBC said, while his two brothers, Dzhabrail and Ibragim got 14 and 12 years in a penal colony, respectively.

Makhmudov’s uncle, Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, also got life in prison for helping to organize the alleged hit.

To this day, however, it is unclear who requested or contracted Politkovskaya’s murder.

The Russian military has reportedly recruited tens of thousands of prisoners to fight in Ukraine since summer 2022, The Guardian noted.

Convicts are supposedly promised that if they fought for six months on the front lines, they would be pardoned from the rest of their sentence, the outlet explained.

Under Russian law, Putin must personally sign off on the pardons.

The policy has sparked controversy both within Russian and abroad, as critics worry that the scheme will allow dangerous offenders to wreak havoc on civilians. 

Last week, Russian media alleged that Vladislav Kanyus – who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the rape and fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend in 2020 – had reentered society following a service stint in Ukraine with the Wagner Group, Newsweek reported.

“They atone with blood for crimes on the battlefield, in assault brigades, under bullets, under shells,” Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told baffled reporters of the decision to pardon Kanyus and other killers.

With Post wires