Moscow, Russia (BBN)-Two men have been given life sentences by a Moscow court for the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Russian news agencies report.

They were among five men convicted of the crime last month, reports BBC.

Politkovskaya, a 48-year-old investigative reporter and vocal critic of Russia's war in Chechnya, was shot in a lift in her block of flats.

Three of the men had been acquitted of the murder but Russia's supreme court ordered the men be retried.

Rustam Makhmudov was found guilty of pulling the trigger and is one of the men who received a life sentence.

His uncle Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, one of those found guilty of organising the murder, was also jailed for life.

The three other convicted of the killing – two of whom are Makhmudov's brothers – were given between 12 and 20 years in prison.

Politkovskaya's reporting for Novaya Gazeta newspaper won international renown for her dogged investigation of Russian abuses in Chechnya.

But her pieces, which were highly critical of President Vladimir Putin, then serving his second term, and the Chechen leadership, angered many in authority.

BBN/AS-09June14-3:30pm (BST)