Russia's chief prosecutor announced earlier Monday that a Chechen-born leader of a Moscow organized crime group, known to the journalist, had masterminded the murder, and said former and serving security and police officers had been arrested in the investigation.
Ilya Politkovsky told RIA Novosti: "We do not doubt the results of the investigation. Powerful work has been done in all directions: the perpetrator, organizer, the client, and so on."
However, he said the Prosecutor General's office should not have made investigation findings public, and that the premature announcement of suspect names could compromise the investigation.
"Specific names were mentioned today. In my opinion, this is divulging investigation secrets, and it could affect the further course of the investigation."
Anna Politkovskaya, known for her criticism of the Kremlin's policy in Chechnya, was gunned down in an apparent contract killing in an elevator of her apartment block on October 7, 2006 in Moscow, at the age of 48.
Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said earlier Monday that 10 people, "including direct organizers, accomplices and perpetrators of the crime," had been arrested in the case.
"Unfortunately, one former and one serving police official, and an officer from the FSB, participated in surveillance and intelligence gathering on Politkovskaya...They have also been arrested," he said.
However, a senior police official denied that there were serving policemen among the detainees in the Politkovskaya case. "There is no single serving officer among the group of people detained or arrested so far in the Anna Politkovskaya murder case," Police Major General Yury Karasyov told journalists.
The chief prosecutor said the arrested former security officials organized surveillance and gathered information, making them accomplices in the murder. The gang leader who masterminded Politkovskaya's killing was well-known to the journalist, and the two had met, Chaika said.
He said the suspect is currently abroad, but declined to name him. "I can't give his name, as the investigation is still underway," he said.
