MOSCOW (AP) -- A court has convicted seven men in the 2000 murder of journalist Igor Domnikov.

Domnikov, died two months after being repeatedly hit in the head with a hammer outside his Moscow apartment building.
On Wednesday, a court in the city of Kazan sentenced four men to life in prison, and three others to prison terms ranging from 18 to 25 years after finding them guilty of killing 23 men, including Domnikov, and of eight kidnappings, regional court official Enza Galiulina said.
CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said the verdict in Domnikov's case was ""a groundbreaking step in the fight against impunity in the killing of journalists.""
Simon called on Russian authorities ""to go further"" and find and prosecute the mastermind of Domnikov's murder.
The convicted gang's leader Eduard Tagiryanov, who was sentenced to life, told the court that Domnikov's killing had been ordered by former deputy governor of western Lipetsk region Sergei Dorovsky for a series of critical articles on his policies, said Andrei Lipsky, the deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta.
Dorovsky has denied involvement and has never been charged.
Lipsky said the mastermind was unlikely to be prosecuted because he is ""a person with serious financial levers.""
Russian media reported Thursday that prosecutors have released two of the people originally named as suspects, and that a court official said a third is no longer linked to the case