Retrial over Russia Forbes murder

The men were freed in May. But the Supreme Court has now ordered a new trial with a new judge.

Klebnikov was editor of the Russian edition of Forbes business magazine, which had tackled the issue of corruption in Russia's powerful elite.

He was shot dead in what appeared to be a contract killing as he left his Moscow office in July 2004.

In May a jury at the Moscow City Court acquitted Kazbek Dukuzov, 32, and Musa Vakhayev, 42, who were both charged with murdering Klebnikov.

A third man, Fail Sadretdinov, was acquitted of organising the killing.

The men had denied the charges against them.

Named in book

Prosecutors had alleged the murder was carried out on behalf of a former Chechen rebel leader.

They said the fugitive, who had featured in a book Klebnikov had written, had paid a criminal gang to kill the journalist.

The decision to order a retrial followed an appeal by prosecutors.

It is not clear on what grounds the decision was made.

A New Yorker of Russian origin, Klebnikov had worked for Forbes for more than 13 years. The Russian edition of the magazine had been launched earlier in 2004.

It had published a list of the country's wealthiest people and claimed that Moscow had more billionaires than any other city in the world.

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