A former Russian detective who was convicted in connection with the 2006 murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya has been pardoned after fighting in Ukraine, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

Sergei Khadzhikurbanov was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2014 for organizing the deadly attack on Politkovskaya outside her apartment building. Politkovskaya, a staunch critic of President Vladimir Putin, unveiled abuses committed by Russian and allied forces against rebels in Chechnya for the independent magazine Novaya Gazeta.

Khadzhikurbanov, one of five men tried and convicted in Politkovskaya’s murder, was among thousands of prisoners who were sent to the front lines on the Ukrainian war front in exchange for a pardon.

Russia has probably recruited roughly 100,000 people from prisons to fight in Ukraine, Olga Romanova, the head of an independent prisoners’ rights group, has estimated.

Local Russian media outlets have reported several instances of released prisoners going on to commit serious offenses, including murders, after having left the army.

Some information is from Agence France-Presse.
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