Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, convicted for the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, has died in a hospital for convicts, the press service of the Federal Penitentiary Service’s regional branch said, adding that Gaitukayev had been suffering from a severe chronic disease for a long time.
"His body had been sent to the Vologda morgue in order to establish the cause of his death. Tonight the body is planned to be handed over to his family," TASS cited the press service as saying.
On October 7, 2006, Anna Politkovsakaya, a columnist at the Novaya Gazeta daily, was shot dead in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building.
In October 2011, Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, Rustam Makhmudov, his brothers Dzhabrail and Ibragim, and Sergei Khadzhikurbanov were charged with the murder. On June 9, 2014, a jury found them all guilty of murdering Politkovskaya "in connection with her professional activities."
Gaitukayev and Rustam Makhmudov were sentenced to life imprisonment, Khadzhikurbanov was handed 20 years in a special colony, while Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov received 14 and 12 years behind bars respectively.
