MOSCOW, August 12 (RAPSI) - The Moscow City Court has subpoenaed 12 witnesses in the Anna Politkovskaya murder trial, ordering them to appear before the court.

The prosecutor said during the hearing that said witnesses were not available at the addresses they had provided, so in order for their testimonies to be heard they must be ordered to appear before court.

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.

A sixth suspect, former police officer Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, who earlier signed a plea bargain, gave evidence against his accomplices and was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December 2012.

The investigators believe that Rustam Makhmudov committed the murder with the help of his brothers Ibragim and Dzhabrail, their uncle and Khadzhikurbanov.