**Russia’s Supreme Court has ordered a new investigation into the 2006 killing of the journalist, Anna Politkovskaya.**The court had originally overturned a decision earlier this year to acquit three men charged with helping to plan the murder of the Kremlin critic.
Their retrial had been due to resume soon, after a Moscow court turned down an appeal by her family for a delay.
The Politkovskaya family want the case to be combined with another inquiry into who masterminded the killing.
It argued a retrial was pointless without a fresh investigation as it would involve the same evidence and suspects, and so would not get to the bottom of who was behind the killing.
The case against the three original suspects - two Chechen brothers alleged to have been drivers at the scene and a former Moscow policeman accused of giving logistical support - will now be combined with the new investigation.
The three were acquitted at a hearing in February, but the Supreme Court quashed that verdict, citing procedural problems.
Ms Politkovskaya won international renown for her dogged probing of abuses against civilians by Russian-backed security forces in Chechnya
But her investigative reports, highly critical of the then-President Vladimir Putin and the Chechen leadership, angered many in authority.
The latest decision follows the fatal shooting in July of the human rights activist Natalia Estemirova, who also investigated human rights abuses in Chechnya and had worked closely with Ms Politkovskaya.