A Russian newspaper says the suspected organizer of the 2006 murder of prominent Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya has been arrested.

Politkovskaya's editors at the Novaya Gazeta announced the arrest of former Moscow police lieutenant colonel Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov. The paper reported the police officer had previously been interviewed in connection with a 2009 trial related to the reporters death.

Novaya Gazeta said Pavlyuchenkov is suspected of having organized the journalist's murder and with procuring a gun and silencer.

The suspected gunman was arrested in May. Police are still looking into who may have contracted the journalist's murder.

Politkovskaya was an award winning reporter and had been critical of the Kremlin and its policies in Chechnya. She was gunned down in the elevator of her apartment building in October, 2006.