Lawyers allege that Anna Politkovskaya’s killer worked for the FSB

Lawyers of the defendants accused of involvement in the journalist’s murder say that Rustam Makhmudov, the alleged killer, could have hidden from the law with the help of forged documents issued by the State Security Service [FSB].  They claim that Makhmudov who is presently in hiding abroad was able to escape punishment for an abduction and get a passport because of being an FSB informer.

The prosecution produced drivers’ licences in two names, removed when searching the Moscow flat occupied by the two brothers facing charges, one in the name of Makhmudov.  Analysis found that the photos were of the same man.

According to the investigators, Makhmudov back in 1997 played an active role in the abduction in Moscow of a businessman and extortion of a large amount of money.  At the end of 1998 virtually all the abductors were arrested and convicted. Only Makhmud escaped, by hiding under assumed names.

He had recently been using a document in the name of Nayil Zagiduplin from the Tatar Republic. The investigators found the real Zagiduplin who told them that before leaving for the army in 1994 he had left his passport (internal identity document – translator) at the military office, and after demobilization had not collected it.

The investigators say that Makhmudov somehow gained hold of this passport and then used it to get a driving licence and passport for travelling abroad which he used to leave the country.