Russia: Indictment Confirmed in Politkovskaya case Prosecutors have taken one more step toward holding someone accountable for the 2006 murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. On Friday they confirmed an indictment against former police officer Sergey Khadzhikurbanov for participating in the plot to kill the journalist, an outspoken critic of then-president Vladimir Putin and his United Russia party. Khadzhikurbanov, who served as a policeman in Moscow’s Central Department for Combating Organized Crime, denies involvement and refuses to testify in court. “Khadzhikurbanov has been charged due to the fact that, having been released from prison on Sept. 22, 2006, he went on to lead an organized criminal group in both the preparation and the actual commission of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya,” Vladimir Markin, a spokesperson for the committee investigating the journalist’s death, told Russian ITAR-TASS news agency.