MOSCOW, August 24 - RAPSI. A Moscow district court has received the Investigative Committees request to issue an arrest warrant for retired police Lt. Col. Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov suspected in organizing the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the court press-secretary told the Rusian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI).

A hearing is scheduled for August 25.

According to the Investigative Committee spokesperson, there is evidence that in late July 2006, Pavlyuchenkov allegedly took an order to organize Politkovskayas murder for monetary reward and allegedly formed a criminal group consisting of the three Makhmudov brothers and other individuals.

Later, Pavlyuchenkov allegedly acquired weapons and developed a plan defining each group members role, investigators maintain.

Politkovskaya, well-known for her journalist investigations of human rights violations in Chehnya, was gunned down in the elevator of her building at Lesnaya Street in Moscow on October 7, 2006. Investigators have looked to her professional activities for their main leads.