MOSCOW, Feb 19: A Moscow jury on Thursday acquitted all the accused in the trial over the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya after three months of hearings that failed to shed light on the crime.

None of the four accused had been charged with pulling the trigger or being the mastermind of the 2006 killing of the investigative reporter who was highly critical of Russia’s strongman and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

“They have neither found the person who ordered the killing, the organisers nor the people who committed the crime,” said the Politkovskaya family’s lawyer, Karinna Moskalenko, after the verdicts were announced.

The acquittal verdicts were read out at the packed courthouse in central Moscow by the head of the jury.

Relatives of the accused cried of “Bravo, well done!” and “Thank you!”

By contrast, Politkovskaya’s son and daughter listened to the verdicts in silence.

“Justice has been done,” said defence lawyer Murad Mussayev. “The jury showed their principles and there has been an honest verdict.”

The acquitted were Chechen brothers, Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov, who had been accused of driving the killer to the scene of the murder of the Kremlin critic.

A third defendant acquitted was Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, a former police investigator, who had been charged with providing logistical assistance for the murder.—AFP