A former Russian detective who was convicted for his role in the 2006 killing of the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya has been pardoned by President Vladimir Putin after fighting in Ukraine, his lawyer has said.
Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was given a 20-year prison sentence in 2014 for his role in organising the murder of Politkovskaya, a prominent reporter at the liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta who was shot dead in 2006 in the lift of her Moscow apartment block.