MOSCOW, December 27 – RAPSI. Those who ordered the assassination of a renowned journalist Anna Politkovskaya will be identified in 2013, Petros Garibyan, the chief investigator in the case, said.

“We already know who pulled the trigger, the assassination masterminds will be identified next year as well,” he told the Echo of Moscow radio station.

Politkovskaya, a journalist for the liberal Novaya Gazeta newspaper, was shot and killed in her apartment building on October 7, 2006. Politkovskaya’s murder is believed to be linked to her groundbreaking coverage of human rights abuses in Chechnya. She was a passionate critic of the Kremlin as well.

On December 14, former police officer Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov was found guilty of being involved in the murder and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Also the court held that Pavlyuchenkov must pay the Politkovskaya children three million rubles ($97,660), thus partially satisfying their request for 10 million ($352,530).

Pavlyuchenkov claims to have run surveillance on Anna Politkovskaya leading up to her murder. He paid subordinates of his in the police department where he used to work between $100-150 a day to keep an eye on her. These men were not told why they were watching Politkovskaya.

In total, six people are suspected of involvement in the 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 of his relatives to help him: the Makhmudov brothers Rustam, Ibragim and Dzhabrail, and another former police official, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov.