Anna Politkovskaya was particularly committed to Chechnya. She gave a voice to victims and their families and a face to the conflict. Nobody has been able to fully take her place. The murderers have not been found.

Investigation prolonged until February 2011
In February 2009 a jury freed three persons charged with the murder of Politkovskaya. Investigators have announced that the investigation process will be prolonged until February 2011.

Since year 2000, 18 journalists have been killed in the Russian Federation as a direct consequence of their professional activities. Four of them worked for the independent Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta, known for its investigative journalism and criticism of the regime. Today, key journalists in Novaya Gazeta have bodyguards. Their articles are often printed without a byline or under a pseudonym, both to protect the journalists’ identity.

the Russian Federation Researcher Julie Wilhelmsen at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) believes the reason why it is so dangerous to be a journalist in the Russian Federation, is that a political and legal climate has developed in which press freedom and journalists’ safety are discouraged and dissent is not a valued part of the public discourse.

According to her, the murders of journalists are part of a broader trend. Press freedom in the Russian Federation has been sharply curtailed since Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000 and began the fight against Chechen separatists. “War is always a good excuse to restrict press freedom. Putin does not believe that criticism and dissent is important. The current Russian regime wants the media to serve the interests of power,” continued Wilhelmsen.

Fearless Novaya Gazeta
Wilhelmsen also said that Novaya Gazeta has been the most fearless and uncompromising newspaper in the Russian Federation. Politkovskaya was herself a hard critic, first and foremost of Putin’s policies in the Chechen Republic.

During a visit to Berlin in 2008, shortly after Dmitry Medvedev was inaugurated as Putin’s successor as a president of the Russian Federation, Putin promised that every journalist murder would be investigated and that those charged would be prosecuted. Two years later, Amnesty International is among those remembering ths promise, and has vowed to hold Putin to account.

According to Amnesty International‘s the Russian Federation investigator, Friederike Behr, the committee in charge of investigating Politkovskaya’s murder admitted that the unsolved crimes against journalists and human rights activists are harmful to Russia’s image. “The Investigation Committee and other government agencies must ensure that such crimes are properly and objectively investigated. It is very important to show that there is no  impunity for such crimes,” said Behr.

In the absence of journalists, human rights activists in the region try to fill their place by providing information to the outside world. One of these was Anna’s friend Natalya Estimirova, who was killed on 15 July 2009. The investigation of her murder has also not brought any concrete results.

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee calls upon governments to lift the situation in North-Caucasus high on the agenda and to urge Russian authorities to do their upmost to bring an end to conflict, impunity and human rights abuse.

NHC, Amnesty International, Article 19 and many other human rights organisations monitor the situation in the Chechen Republic. Through the so-called anti-terror operations taking place in North-Caucasus the human rights violations continue with impunity. Enforced disappearances, torture and killings have spread from the Chechen Republic to the neighboring republics Dagestan and Ingushetia.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Russia/North Caucasus is the third most dangerous place in the world for journalists.

Background
On Saturday, 7 October 2006 Anna Politkovskaya was shot entering the elevator of the apartment building where she lived in the centre of Moscow. The woman who had faced many dangerous situations and who had been threatened repeatedly was shot at pointblank range after returning from a trip to a supermarket. The person suspected of shooting her is still at large. Lawyers of the family of Politkovskaya fear that there is a lack of will on the part of the authorities to vigorously investigate the case.

A trial into Politkovskaya’s murder started in October 2008 at the military district court in Moscow, with three men facing charges of involvement in her murder.

The trial started with the judge announcing that the jury had asked for the trial to be conducted behind closed doors. However, a member of the jury said on the independent radio station Ekho Moskvy that the jury members were not afraid and had nothing against an open trial.

A lot of video footage of Politkovskaya’s last days surfaced. Countless lists of telephone calls were presented, either those that she herself had made or those which had been made by the suspects in the killing. But the jury was unable to find the three suspects guilty beyond doubt.

On 19 February 2009 the suspects were acquitted. In September 2009, the Russian Supreme Court ordered a new investigation into the murder. A year later, the investigation has not yet brought new results.

Vera and Ilya Politkovsky, daughter and son of Anna Politkovskaya said that “the State is showing a complete lack of interest in solving the murder of our mother”.

HRH Bergen, based on information from Amnesty International Norway, Amnesty International and Norwegian Helsinki Committee.

Related links:

Three years without Anna Politkovskaya

Three years since the murder of Anna: In Russia, being a HR defender has never been more dangerous

Politkovskaya award won by Iranian women’s rights campaign

The blog of the Rafto laureate from Chechnya

CPJ calls for information on Natalya Estemirova murder

Statement of Russian human rights activists

Russia: Chechen human rights advocate remembered

Russia: freedom of expression remains under threat in the North Caucasus