Former Russian policeman Serhii Khadzhikurbanov, sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, has been pardoned by Vladimir Putin to join Russian forces in Ukraine, his lawyer told AFP on Tuesday.

Serhii Khadzhikurbanov, one of those involved in the murder of journalist Anna PolitkovskaPhoto: Anton Novoderezhkin / TASS / Profimedia

“I just found out from his family that with the beginning of the special operation (…) he was offered a contract to participate (in combat operations). He did it, and when the contract ended, he was pardoned by presidential decree,” said lawyer Oleksiy Mikhalchyk, using a Russian euphemism for the war that broke out in Ukraine in February 2022.

According to him, his client was supposed to serve his sentence until 2030, but he was offered a contract in exchange for a pardon due to his experience in the Russian special forces.

Tens of thousands of Russian prisoners signed such contracts with the military or paramilitary groups such as Wagner. The Kremlin has publicly endorsed this policy.

“Convicted criminals, including those convicted of serious crimes, pay for their crimes with blood on the battlefield,” Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmytro Peskov said on Friday.

Serhii Khadzhikurbanov is still serving on the Ukrainian front.

“In 2023, he signed a new contract as a volunteer and is now fighting in the team,” continued the lawyer, who said he was “convinced of his client’s innocence” in the Politkovskaya case.

Ana Politkovska, a world-renowned investigative journalist specializing in crimes committed by the authorities in Chechnya, was shot and killed in her home on Vladimir Putin’s birthday on October 7, 2006.

The perpetrators of the murder have never been identified, although many opponents of the Kremlin and its regime in Chechnya consider Ramzan Kadyrov, the authoritarian leader of the Caucasus region, the prime suspect.

Only the guilty were convicted years after this crime, which shocked people far beyond the borders of Russia.

Khadzhikurbanov was among the convicts. The organizer of the murder, Lom-Ali Khaitukayev, died in prison in 2017. His nephew Rustam Mahmudov was convicted of shooting a journalist and is serving a life sentence.