On October, 7th, on the 54-th anniversary of Vladimir Putin, internationally known Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was killed in Moscow. Anna Politkovskya was rather more the human rights activist than a journalist – it wasn’t enough for her just to write about people’s problems, she helped to solve these problems. (12-OCT-06)
Text: HRH/Moscow, by Yanina Savenko. Sources: svobodanews.ru, novayagazeta.ru. Photos: yavlinsky.ru, gazeta.ru, novayagazeta.ru
On Saturday evening a neighbour found Politkovskaya shot dead in the hallway of the building where she lived in the centre of Moscow. The Makarov pistol and four cartridges were found near her body. Politkovskaya had been shot three times in the body and finished off with a “control shot.” The Moscow City Prosecutor´s Office had opened a murder inquiry and colleagues said the daring reporter was almost certainly killed because of her profession.
Anna Politkovskaya was writing for the bi-weekly newspaper Novaya Gazeta from June 1999. Nowadays it’s almost the only really oppositional periodical in the Russian Federation. Many times Anna Politkovskaya went to the Chechen Republic during the war and to refuge camps in Dagestan, Ingushetiya and the Chechen Republic. Politkovskaya won fame at home and abroad for her persistent and often passionate reporting of abuses by Federal forces in the Chechen Republic. Besides, she was the human rights activist: she helped mothers of perished soldiers in court, investigated corruption within the armed forces. In January 2000 Politkovskaya was awarded the Golden Pen Award by the Russian Union of Journalists, and in February 2003 the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) gave her the Journalism and Democracy award. She was also the author of several books severely critical of the Russian authorities, including “Dirty War. A Russian reporter in Chechnya” and “Putin´s Russia”.
Oleg Panfilov, Director of the Centre for Journalism in Extreme Situations:
There was always a constant feeling something would happen to her. Politkovskaya had been targeted before, including an incident at the time of the Beslan hostages crisis in 2004, when she was allegedly poisoned. Besides, there were other attempts on her life. A few months ago there was an attack on her daughter while she was in her car. The car was stopped by armed people. Evidently they thought they would find Politkovskaya in there. Whenever the question arose whether there was honest journalism in the Russian Federation, almost every time the first name that came to mind was Politkovskaya. Anna Politkovskaya was the conscience of Russian journalism.
Tatyana Lokshina, head of the human rights advocacy group Demos, and an expert on the Chechen war: Politkovskaya´s murder was “a tragedy for the Chechen Republic.” Now she was one of the remaining journalists to cover the war and to consistently report human rights violations. Politkovskaya had been especially fierce in criticizing the Kremlin´s controversial strongman in the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov. She criticised Kadyrov a lot. She was one of the few who dared.
Irina Khakamada, Cochaiwoman of the presidium Russian People Democratic Union movement:
I don’t know how to comment it. It’s awful. The murder, for sure, was connected with her professional activities.
Alexander Podrabinek, journalist and human rights activist:
Anna Politkovskaya was the hope for indigent, persecuted and deprived of civil rights people. For many of them she was the only hope. Now when there is no justice, protection and compassion, for very many people the last hope for justice was Anna Politkovskaya. Her passionate words gave them force and confidence that they would not be left to the mercy of fate in the kingdom of all-embracing fear, violence and lawlessness.
Georgy Yavlinskiy, leader od the Yabloko party:
It’s the absolutely political murder. It’s the murder of the person who had nothing to do with business. She was very famous, internationally known journalist. The President should answer for such murder.
Ryzhkov, deputy of the State Duma:
I’m shocked. It is hard to believe. Politkovskaya was certainly one of the most well-known journalists not only in the Russian Federation but in the whole world. She received many international awards for her journalist activities. The motives are evident to me. All these years Anna dealt mostly with the Chechen Republic, Beslan and Nord-Ost tragedies, that are the most unpleasant things for the country leaders, for the Federal Security Service and for the Army. Any of these structures could make order for this murder. To tell you the truth, I don’t believe that Politkovskya’s murder will be investigated, because people who must investigate the case were interested in Anna’s death. But I hope a miracle will happen and killers will be found. the Russian Federation becomes more and more dangerous for independent journalists and oppositional political figures. Nobody is secured from such happening.
Director of the Informational Center of Independent Journalists at the Council of the NGO Taisa Isaeva:
Anna Politkovskaya was one of the few Russian journalists who was really respected and loved in Chechen republic. People respect her, because she wasn’t afraid of writing truth about the situation in the Chechen Republic. That’s why her murder was taken very much to heart in the republic. She wasn’t a stranger for many people, for me too. She knew so well what is happening here. It’s really a very heavy and irreplaceable loss not only for Russian journalism but also for human rights movement in the Russian Federation.
Leader of the “Democratic Union” Valeria Novodvorskaya:
The list has been already made up. And I’d like to know my number in it. Those who had ordered it are evident – “Kremlin&Lubyanka and Co”. I wouldn’t connect Politkovskaya’s killing with Kadyrov: he isn’t yet impudent enough to act outside the Chechen Republic. Certainly, he’ll be glad of her death, but it’s not his birthday present.
Cochairwoman of the “Civil Assistance” Committee, Svetlana Gannushkina:
The killing of Anna Politkovskaya was connected with her professional activities, and probably with her journalist investigation of the Nord-Ost seizure circumstances. The cause of the journalist’s death is that police has been catching Georgians instead of bandits.
From the editors of “Novaya Gazeta”:
“Anna never had anything to do neither with political intrigues nor with some “financial interests”.
It was impossible to force her to be silent or to bribe. She considered that her journalist duty and human imperative was the search for justice, and she was uncompromising in it. She was also seeking truth and justice in Chechen tragic situation – from the very beginning of the war till today, although realizing how dangerous it was. At present we don’t know who and for what reason killed her. We could only advance two versions. It could be Ramzan Kadyrov’s revenge, as she wrote and spoke much about his activities. Or the revenge of people who want to compromise the present Chechen Prime Minister, who at the age of 30 and could claim to be the President.” Novaya Gazeta stockholders fix 25 million rubles award forany information which would help to discover organizers and executors of the murder.
Actions in memory of Anna Politkovskaya were hold in many cities of the Russian Federation and abroad. International and 
Russian journalist and human rights organizations strongly condemn murder of Anna Politkovskaya and call on the Russian authorities to ensure that there is a thorough investigation and that those responsible are soon brought to justice. However neither the government of the Russian Federation nor the State Duma, the President’s Administration and the President have found time not only to comment on Politkovskaya’s murder but even to pay respects to Anna’s family and relatives. Only on October, 11th during his visit to Germany answering to a journalist’s question Vladimir Putin said that Politkovskaya’s influence on political life of the Russian Federation was utterly insignificant and her murder does more harm to Russian authorities more than her publications. People took Putin’s words quite critically. According to New-York Journalist Protection Committee, Politkovskaya was the 12th journalist perished as a result of contract murders since Putin came to power.
On October, 10th thousand of people came to Troyekurovskoye Cemetery to pay their final respect to slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Among them were many public figures, journalists, deputies of the State Duma and many foreign dignitaries, such as the American, German and British Ambassadors. More than 1000 people were waiting outside the funeral hall in the atmosphere of somber reverence.
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