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| Politkovskaya trial doors closed | Politkovskaya trial doors closed |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| The trial of three men charged with involvement in the murder of Russian reporter Anna Politkovskaya will now be closed to the public, the judge says. | The trial of three men charged with involvement in the murder of Russian reporter Anna Politkovskaya will now be closed to the public, the judge says. |
| When the trial opened on Monday the judge had said it would be open. | When the trial opened on Monday the judge had said it would be open. |
| But Judge Yevgeny Zubov reversed his decision on Wednesday, saying jurors had refused to enter the courtroom in the presence of the media. | But Judge Yevgeny Zubov reversed his decision on Wednesday, saying jurors had refused to enter the courtroom in the presence of the media. |
| Ms Politkovskaya, a leading critic of Russia's policies in Chechnya, was shot dead in Moscow on 7 October 2006. | Ms Politkovskaya, a leading critic of Russia's policies in Chechnya, was shot dead in Moscow on 7 October 2006. |
| The reporter's family and lawyers criticised the judge's decision. | |
| How can you say the investigation is complete if you have neither the killer nor the person who ordered it in the dock? Grigory PaskoRussian journalist Will justice be done? | |
| "Of course we do not like the closed trial.... There is nothing wrong with having journalists there," Ms Politkovskya's son Ilya said. | |
| "I am very disappointed. I think this trial should have been open, not only because all trials should be, but because she was a public figure and the public should know the circumstances of her killing," said Karinna Moskalenko, a lawyer for Ms Politkovskaya's family. | |
| Lawyers for the defendants had also pressed for the trial to be open. | |
| 'Farce' | |
| The three men who went on trial on Monday are former policeman Sergey Khadzhikurbanov and two Chechen brothers, Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov. | |
| None of the suspects is accused of carrying out the murder or ordering it | |
| A court spokesman told the BBC he could not specify exactly what charges the men were facing, although none of them was accused of either carrying out the murder or ordering it. | |
| Another man, an officer with the country's security service, also appeared before the military court. Pavel Ryaguzov is charged with abuse of office and extortion. | |
| Meanwhile, investigators say Rustam Makhmudov - who is believed to have fired the fatal shot - and the person or persons who ordered Mr Politkovskaya's killing remain at large. | |
| Some of Ms Politkovskaya's colleagues have described the trial as a "farce". | |
| "How can you say the investigation is complete if you have neither the killer nor the person who ordered it in the dock?" Russian journalist Grigory Pasko said. | |
| Investigative journalist | |
| The murder of Ms Politkovskaya, who wrote for the small-circulation Novaya Gazeta, shocked the international community but did not have the same impact in Russia. | |
| Ms Politkovskaya had frequently travelled to Chechnya and the North Caucasus, where her dispatches described some of the horror of a war where most of the casualties were civilians. | |
| She was the 13th journalist to be killed in a contract-style killing in Russia during Vladimir Putin's period as president, according to the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists. | |
| Mr Putin - who served the maximum two consecutive terms in office - was succeeded by Dmitry Medvedev in May. |