Chechen who arranged Politkovskaya killing dies in prison

MOSCOW – The man convicted of organizing the 2006 killing of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya has died in prison.

Russian news agencies on Tuesday cited corrections officials as saying Lom-Ali Gaitukayev died on Saturday at a prison hospital in the Vologda region. No cause was stated for his death, but the reports quoted his lawyers as saying he had suffered a chronic illness. His age was not stated.

Politkovskaya, a strong critic of President Vladimir Putin and of Russia's actions in the wars in Chechnya, was shot to death in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building.

Gaitukayev and four other Chechens were convicted in the killing in 2011. Prosecutors said Gaitukayev arranged logistics of the killing at the order of unidentified figures, and he was sentenced to life.