Russian police have detained a former Chechen government official in connection with last year's murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reported Saturday that officers arrested Shamil Burayev, former head of the administration of the Achkoi-Martan district in the southern republic of Chechnya. The newspaper report says Burayev was arrested on suspicion of "organizing a murder."

A gunman shot and killed Politkovskaya in her apartment building last October.

Russia's Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika has said her murder was organized by a Chechen criminal group in Moscow that specialized in contract killings. Chaika has announced the detention of 10 suspects in the case. At least two have been released.

Politkovskaya was well known for her reporting on human rights abuses by Russian troops and paramilitary groups in Chechnya. She was preparing a report highly critical of Russia's military presence in Chechnya at the time of her death.

Russian government forces have been fighting separatists in Chechnya for more than a decade.