MOSCOW, March 14 - RAPSI. The Supreme Court's criminal cases board has dismissed the appeal in the murder case of Anna Politkovskaya, RAPSI reports from the hearing on Thursday. Former police officer Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov has been sentenced to 11 years in prison.

The Moscow City Court's ruling dated December 14, 2012 has become effective, which also provides for collecting 3 million rubles (around $98,000) in damages from Pavlyuchenkov, a confessed accomplice in the Politkovskaya murder case.

Politkovskaya, a journalist for the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was shot dead in her apartment building on October 7, 2006. Her murder is believed to have been linked to her groundbreaking coverage of human rights abuses in Chechnya. She was also a passionate critic of the Kremlin.

In total, six people are suspected of involvement in her murder. The other five suspects are in custody and will be tried separately. Lom-Ali Gaitukayev is accused of having organized the murder and of having hired three relatives to help him - the Makhmudov brothers Rustam, Ibragim and Dzhabrail, as well as a former police official, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov.