MOSCOW, March 5 (RAPSI) – One of witnesses in the Politkovskaya murder trial identified the accused Rustam Makhmudov as the killer, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

Witness Oleg Golubovich, who was the driver for the another accused in the case, former police officer Dmitry Pavluchyenkov, claims that he had seen how the alleged killer received the murder weapon. Golubovich identified Makhmudov by a photo.

He told the court that he drove his boss Pavluchyenkov to a meeting with Makhmudov, whom he knew under an alias “Nail” (that name was used in the forged passport found on the accused).

“I was told that this man was a hired killer, and he took a silenced pistol out of Pavluchyenkov’s car. After that I was told that the Politkovskaya thing was done clean,” the witness said.

The witness also told the court that shortly after Politkovskaya’s murder, his boss asked him to kill Makhmudov’s uncle, Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, who the investigation names as one of the principal organizers of the crime. However, shortly after that request, Gaitukayev was detained by the police.

Novaya Gazeta newspaper journalist Politkovskaya was shot and killed in her apartment building on October 7, 2006. Her murder has been linked by some experts to her coverage of human rights abuses in Chechnya.

The five suspects include former police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, Rustam, Ibragim, and Dzhabrail Makhmudov, and their uncle Lom-Ali Gaitukayev. The investigators believe that Rustam Makhmudov committed the murder with the help of his brothers Ibragim and Dzhabrail, their uncle, and Khadzhikurbanov.