MOSCOW, May 31 - RAPSI. The Moscow Basmanny District Court has alleviated the measure of restraint against Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, a suspect in the high-profile murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Pavlyuchenkov was placed under house arrest.

Earlier, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said Pavlyuchenkov and his lawyer Karen Nersisyan had submitted an appeal to substitute his one year prison detention with house arrest due to the fact that he suffers from chronic diseases.

Politkovskaya, who was known for her journalism on human rights abuses in Chechnya, was shot dead in the elevator of her apartment building on October 7, 2006 in Moscow.

Investigators suspect that she was killed for reasons relating to her investigative journalism.