Moscow -
Russian prosecutors on Wednesday called for a 12-year prison sentence for a former police officer charged with organizing the murder of leading journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov helped arrange the October 7, 2006, murder of the Kremlin critic by providing a weapon, argued prosecutors as the trial started, according to the Interfax news agency.
Pavlyuchenkov has entered into a plea deal whereby he would only get 12 - not 20 - years in prison in exchange for cooperating with investigators.
The journalist's daughter, Ilya Politkovsky, criticized the deal as “a pre-arranged game” that would make it more difficult to find out the truth behind the murder.
“We're doing everything to make the deal with the prosecutors retroactive,” she said.
The motive has never been established, nor have the identities of the murderers. However, Politkovskaya had made enemies with her critical reporting of the Kremlin's war in Chechnya.
She was shot in the hallway of her apartment building, an act that unleashed international outrage. - Sapa-dpa