Detectives with the federal Investigative Committee say they are examining an expanded circle of suspects in the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

The new suspects are said to be ethnic Chechens who wanted to get on the good side of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. There is no evidence directly linking Kadyrov to the case. The original defendants are still considered as suspects.

Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin told CPJ on 28 September that his agency was mistaken in “rushing” a previous case to trial.