Killing suspect may have hidden in Poland

WARSAW, Poland, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- A suspect in the killing of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya may have briefly taken refuge in Poland, officials say.

A source said Rustum Makhmudov was questioned in Belgium and left the country before Russia could obtain an arrest warrant for him, the Rostbalt News Agency reported.

He may have fled to Poland and from there to other European Union countries.

Politkovskaya was shot dead outside her Moscow apartment in 2006. She was known as a critic of the Russian war in Chechnya and of the authoritarian regime of Vladimir Putin.

Two of Makhmudov's brothers were acquitted with a third man after a trial in Moscow last year. In June, a court reversed the acquittal and ordered a new trial.

Prosecutors say Makhmudov was the person who pulled the trigger in the assassination.