The BBC reports that the man suspected of shooting Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006 has been arrested in Chechnya and is due to be brought to Moscow. Rustam Makhmudov was arrested overnight at his parents’ home, his lawyer told AFP news agency.
Two of the detainee’s brothers and a third man are currently awaiting trial over the murder in Moscow.
Politkovskaya’s murder in cold blood outside her home in the Russian capital caused shock and revulsion.
Rustam Makhmudov’s brothers, Dzhabrail and Ibragim, have been accused of acting as drivers at the scene of the crime while former police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov has been accused of providing logistical support.
All three men were tried and acquitted for lack of evidence in 2009 but the verdict was overturned by Russia’s supreme court, which ordered them to be retried.
Rustam Makhmudov remained a fugitive through his brothers’ first trial.