MOSCOW, April 28 (RAPSI) - One of the accused in the Anna Politkovskaya murder trial, Rustam Makhmudov, stated during the hearing that he was not involved in the crime, RAPSI reported from the Moscow City Court on Monday.

However, Makhmudov admitted that the killer came to the building where Anna Politkovskaya lived by his car. According to the defendant, he drove the car himself and also could transfer it at somebody’s request.

According to Makhmudov, his uncle Lom-Ali Gaitukayev introduced another defendant Sergei Khadzhikurbanov to him but they saw each other a couple times.

Dmitry  Pavlyuchenkov who earlier pleaded guilty to charges connected with the murder of Politkovskaya,  helped him with the documents relating to the car and gave him about $600 after his uncle’s arrest, Makhmudov added.

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

Pavlyuchenkov has signed a plea bargain, gave evidence against his accomplices and was sentenced to 11 years in December 2012.