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The assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist, writer and human rights activist, took place on Saturday, 7 October 2006. She was well-known for her opposition to the Chechen conflict and criticism of Russian president Putin. She authored several books about Chechen wars as well as Putin's Russia and received numerous prestigious international awards for her work.

She had been previously arrested and subjected to mock execution by Russian military forces in Chechnya. She was poisoned on the way to Beslan, but survived and continued her reporting. Her murder, widely perceived as a contract killing, sparked a strong international reaction.

The murder

Politkovskaya was found shot dead in the elevator of her apartment block in central Moscow, Interfax and other Russian news agencies reported. Police said a Makarov pistol and four shell casings were found beside her body. Reports indicated a contract killing, as she was shot four times, once in the head. It was unclear at the time who ordered the killing.

Funeral

The funeral was held on Tuesday, 10 October, at 2:30 p.m., at the Troyekurovsky Cemetery. Before Politkovskaya was laid to rest, more than 1,000 people filed past her coffin to pay their last respects. Dozens of Politkovskaya's colleagues, public figures and admirers of her work gathered at a cemetery on the outskirts of Moscow for the funeral. No high-ranking Russian officials could be seen at the ceremony.

Reaction

European Union and many governments condemned the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, well-known journalist and defender of freedom of expression in Russia. They called for a thorough investigation into the crime by Russian authorities.

On 8 October 2006, hundreds rallied in downtown Moscow to protest the murder of Anna Politkovskaya and the recent crackdown on ethnic Georgians. The demonstration was described by the Moscow-based liberal Echo of Moscow radio station as "the largest protest rally of the opposition recently held in Russia." During the day following information about Politkovskaya's death, there was a demonstration and memorial consisting of 500 people in Moscow, as well as 300 people gathering in St. Petersburg. Further rallies and vigils took place in other Russian cities, including St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Saratov and Krasnoyarsk, as well as London, Paris, New York, and Washington.

A day after the murder more than one thousand people (later estimation: over 3000) gathered at the Russian embassy in Helsinki, Finland to pay their respects to Politkovskaya (according to Helsingin Sanomat article published on October 22, there were about 3000 people). The demonstration was silent, with people holding candles. Two of Politkovskaya's books have been published in Finland as translated editions.

Young Finnish musicians wrote a song in Politkovskaya's memory. The song is titled "Uuden ajan kynnyksellä — laulu Anna Politkovskajalle" ("On the Threshold of a New Era — A Song for Anna Politkovskaya") and it was recorded on 19 October in Helsinki. The song is released on the Internet on 20 October for free (although donations to Zhima Ditt are accepted) and an accompanying music video will be released on YouTube. If there's enough demand, a CD single will also be produced.

Threats to her life

While attending a conference on the freedom of press organized by Reporters Without Borders in Vienna in December 2005 Politkovskaya said: "People sometimes pay with their lives for saying aloud what they think. In fact, one can even get killed for giving me information. I am not the only one in danger. I have examples that prove it." She often received death threats as a result of her work; including being threatened with rape and experiencing a mock execution after being arrested by the military in Chechnya.

Detention in Chechnya

During a reporting trip in 2001, Politkovskaya was detained by military officials in the Chechen village of Khottuni. Politkovskaya followed the complaints from 90 Chechen families about "punitive raids" by federal forces. She interviewed a Chechen grandmother Rosita from a village of Tovzeni who endured a 12 day torture of beatings, electric shock and confinement in a pit. The men who arrested Rosita presented themselves as FSB employees. The torturers requested a ransom from Rosita's relatives who negotiated a smaller amount that they were able to pay. Another interviewee described killings and rapes of Chechen men in a "concentration camp with a commercial streak" near the village of Khottuni.

On her leaving the camp, Politkovskaya herself was detained, interrogated, beaten and humiliated by Russian troops. She was subjected to a mock execution using a multiple-launch rocket system BM-21 Grad, then poisoned with a cup of tea that made her vomit. Her tape records were confiscated. She described her execution:

A lieutenant colonel "with a swarthy face and dull dark bulging eyes" said in a businesslike tone: "Let's go. I'm going to shoot you". He led me out of the tent into complete darkness. The nights here are impenetrable. After we walked for a while, he said, "Ready or not, here I come". Something burst with pulsating fire around me, screeching, roaring, and growling. The lieutenant colonel was very happy when I crouched in fright. It turned out that he had led me right under the "Grad" rocket launcher at the moment it was fired".

In 2004 Colonel-General Alexander Baranov, the commander of the Russian Kavkaz deployment mentioned by Politkovskaya's camp guide as the one who ordered captured militants to be kept in the pits, was found guilty by the European Court of Human Rights, with regard to unlawful detention, violating the right to life, and the forced disappearance of a Chechen militant suspect Khadzhi-Murat Yandiyev he ordered to be executed.

Poisoning

While traveling to Beslan to help in negotiations with the hostage-takers, Politkovskaya fell violently ill and lost consciousness after drinking tea. She had been reportedly poisoned, with some accusing the former Soviet secret police poison facility.

Possible government involvement

Claims by Alexander Litvinenko

Soon after Politkovskay death, former Russian state security officer Alexander Litvinenko accused Vladimir Putin of personally ordering the assassination of Politkovskaya and stated that a former presidential candidate Irina Hakamada warned Politkovskaya about threats to her life coming from Russian president. Litvinenko said that he advised Politkovskaya to escape from Russia immediately. Hakamada denied her involvement in passing any specific threats, and said that she warned Politkovskaya only in general terms more than a year ago. It remains unclear if Litvinenko referred to an earlier statement made by Boris Berezovsky who claimed that former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Boris Nemtsov received a word from Hakamada that Putin threatened her and like-minded colleagues in person. According to Berezovsky, Putin uttered that Hakamada and her colleagues "will take in the head immediately, literally, not figuratively" if they "open the mouth" about the Russian apartment bombings.

Two weeks after this statement Litvinenko was poisoned by the radioactive polonium. Two days before his death, he decided to write a statement, in case he "does not make it". He said: "Name the bastard. Anya Politkovskaya did not do it, so I will, for both of us" according to Alex Goldfarb. . He said in his last statement:

"You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people."

Other claims and incidents

On 10 October, 2,000 demonstrators called Putin a "murderer" during his visit to Dresden, Germany..

Former KGB officer Oleg Gordievsky also believed that the murders of Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, Yuri Shchekochikhin, Politkovskaya, Litvinenko and others mean that FSB has returned to the old KGB practice of political assassinations ordered by the government.. Gordievsky was poisoned himself later, allegedly by a Russian agent .

Politkovskaya was killed at Putin's birthday. Later, in February 2008, historian Yuri Felshtinsky and political scientist Vladimir Pribylovsky noted that none of the official suspects has any personal motifs to kill her. This led them to suggest several possible contractors: "the central leadership of the secret service - as a birthday present for Putin" or "Ramzan Kadyrov, also as a birthday present for Putin, in the hopes of receiving a present in return - the presidency of Chechnya (the hope was realized)".

Reply by Vladimir Putin

Putin replied

"This journalist was indeed a sharp critic of the present Russian authorities... but the degree of her influence over political life in Russia was extremely insignificant. She was well-known in journalistic circles, among human rights activists, in the West. I repeat, her influence over political life in Russian was minimal." And in my opinion murdering such a person certainly does much greater damage from the authorities’ point of view, authorities that she strongly criticized, than her publications ever did."

Her criticism of Putin

It was suspected that Putin or one of his allies ordered her murder because she criticized him personally. She wrote a book, Putin's Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy, critical of Putin's federal presidency, including his pursuit of the Second Chechen War. In this book she accused Putin and the Russian secret service FSB of stifling all civil liberties in order to establish a Soviet-style dictatorship, but admitted that "it is we who are responsible for Putin's policies": "Society has shown limitless apathy... As the Chekists have become entrenched in power, we have let them see our fear, and thereby have only intensified their urge to treat us like cattle. The KGB respects only the strong. The weak it devours. We of all people ought to know that." She also wrote that

"We are hurtling back into a Soviet abyss, into an information vacuum that spells death from our own ignorance. All we have left is the internet, where information is still freely available. For the rest, if you want to go on working as a journalist, it's total servility to Putin. Otherwise, it can be death, the bullet, poison, or trial - whatever our special services, Putin's guard dogs, see fit."

"People often tell me that I am a pessimist, that I don't believe in the strength of the Russian people, that I am obsessive in my opposition to Putin and see nothing beyond that," she opens an essay titled Am I Afraid?, finishing it - and the book - with the words: "If anybody thinks they can take comfort from the 'optimistic' forecast, let them do so. It is certainly the easier way, but it is the death sentence for our grandchildren."

Case developments

Arrests

In late August of 2007 police arrested ten suspects believed to have been involved in the murder. Prosecutor Yuri Chaika stated that the plotters aim was to start a crisis to destabilise Russia. The suspects included members of a Chechen organized crime group as well as a number of former FSB agents .

Official statements by Russian authorities

On August 28, 2007, Russia's Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika had a meeting with Vladimir Putin and FSB director Nikolai Patrushev, during which he made an official announcement that

"Our investigation has led us to conclude that only people living abroad could be interested in killing Politkovskaya," and that "Forces interested in de-stabilising the country, in stoking crisis...in discrediting the national leadership, provoking external pressure on the country, could be interested in this crime. Anna Politkovskaya knew who ordered her killing. She met him more than once."

Chaika also said that Politkovskaya's killers are probably connected with the murders of deputy Central Bank head Andrei Kozlov and U.S. journalist Paul Khlebnikov. The person noted by Chaika as organizer of the murder was unequivocally identified in the media as Boris Berezovsky The statement by Chaika was supported by Andrei Lugovoi, who had been indicted by British court with regard to the Alexander Litvinenko poisoning. Lugovoy said that Berezovsky had organized the murders of Politkovskaya, Alexander Litvinenko, and the attempted murder of Yelena Tregubova.

On March 28, 2008, it was reported that the suspected killer of journalist Anna Politkovskaya was identified. The suspect was not named, but the official, Vyacheslav Smirnov, said "all measures are being taken to find and detain him".

On April 3 2008, Investigating Committee of the Persecution Office of Russia Dmitry Dovgy (suspended of his duty under allegations of taking bribes, though the interview was taken before his suspension) told the press that he is convinced that "Politkovskaya's murder was masterminded by Boris Berezovsky and carried out by Khozh-Ahmed Noukhayev". Dovgy said that the murder was aimed at undermining confidence in law and order in Russia. He said the organizers "wanted to show that well-known people can be killed here in broad daylight, with the law enforcement agencies seemingly unable to solve such crimes". Berezovsky dismissed the accusations in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio. "This is another attempt to distract the investigation from searching for the real person behind the murder," he said.

Press reports

Soon after her death, Yaroshevsky, deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta where she worked, said: "The first thing that comes to mind is that Anna was killed for her professional activities. We don't see any other motive for this terrible crime." He said Politkovskaya gave an interview to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty last week in which she said she was a witness in a criminal case against Ramzan Kadyrov in connection with abductions in Chechnya - a case based on her reporting. In that same interview, she called Kadyrov the "Stalin of our days".

On March 28, 2008, it was reported that the suspected killer of journalist Anna Politkovskaya is 30-years old Chechen Rustam Makhmudov, a brother of Ibragim, Rustam and Gzhebrail Makhmudovs also arrested on suspicion on complicity to Politkovskaya assasination.

On April 4 2008 Russian tabloid Novaya Gazeta reported that "Special services’ agents" were among those to organize the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, "but they are being covered with publishing the secret materials of the criminal case." "The question here is not about a total plot by special services (let this be left for American action movies) or about omnipresent Berezovsky (let that be left for state TV journalists and those who need the topic for saving one’s career). The problem is how to understand: who serves whom and when? When the criminal agents serve to particular officers from special agencies and when particular officers serve the interests of their criminal agents? It seems to me that they themselves have confused about that as they get their dividend out of any configuration of their relationships. But to find out who exactly performed the murder of Anna Politkovskaya and who organized that crime, it will be necessary to see exactly into that configuration."

According to Novaya Gazeta, the Politkovskaya assassination was organized by members of Russian special services, and someone in the Russian law enforcement agencies protects the killers by openly disclosing the materials of the criminal case. The report asserts that traces of the killers lead to a gang of Maxim Lazovsky , a former FSB officer who organized a bombing in Moscow in 1994 and was allegedly involved in the 1999 Russian apartment bombings.

Possibly related developments

Assassination of Politkovskay was discussed in media in connection with deaths of other critics of Vladimir Putin

Killing of Movladi Baisarov

On November 18, 2006, former pro-government Chechen commander and FSB officer Movladi Baisarov was shot dead in Moscow. Allegedly, Baisarov intended to give evidence that would show his political opponents' guilty of kidnapping and murder, and give testimony about the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya.

Novaya Gazeta journalist Vyacheslav Izmailov that his newspaper was preparing to publish information linking Baisarov's murder with that of Anna Politkovskaya. Izmailov, who worked closely with Politkovskaya on her stories about human rights abuses in Chechnya, said former Grozny Mayor Beslan Gantamirov had come to paper's offices two weeks after she was murdered and said armed men close to Ramzan Kadyrov had been sent to Moscow with orders to kill three people: Politkovskaya, Baisarov and Gantamirov himself.

Litvinenko poisoning

On November 23, 2006 a former FSB officer and writer Alexander Litvinenko died in London, following a lethal dose of radioactive polonium-210, while investigating Politkovskaya's death. He was an outspoken critic of President Putin and Russia's Chechnya policy.. This incident was remarkably similar to the poisoning by thallium of KGB defector Nikolay Khokhlov, Politkovskaya prepared an interview with Khokhlov for Novaya Gazeta.

Other cases

On November 24, the day of Litvinenko's death, Russian economist and politician Yegor Gaidar have been poisoned after drinking a cup of tea. This incident was similar to the poisoning of Politkovskaya on her flight to Beslan.

A Politkovsaya colleague from Novaya Gazeta Yuri Shchekochikhin has been allegedly poisoned by an unknown radioactive substance He investigated the Russian apartment bombings as a member of the Kovalev Commission with Mikhail Trepashkin. Litvinenko was writing a new book about FSB activities including concentration camps in Chechnya. In that regard, he had frequent contacts with Politkovskaya, according to Larisa Volodimirova.

Other similar cases include the assassinations of Russian politicians Galina Starovoitova and Sergei Yushenkov and the death of journalist Artyom Borovik who also investigated the Russian apartment bombings

See also

People

• Boris Berezovsky
• Richard Behar
• Artyom Borovik
• Nadezhda Chaikova
• Georgiy R. Gongadze
• Michael Isikoff
• Paul Klebnikov
• Alexander Litvinenko
• Ivan Safronov
• Yuri Shchekochikhin
• Galina Starovoitova
• Malika Umazheva
• Nina Yefimova
• Sergei Yushenkov

Topics

• Human rights in Russia
• Politics of Russia
• List of journalists killed in Russia
• Media freedom in Russia

References

1. World Politics Review LLC,Politkovskaya's Death, Other Killings, Raise Questions About Russian Democracy, 31 Oct 2006
2. "Anna Politkovskaya: Putin's Russia". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
3. "Anna Politkovskaya is murdered" (in Russian). Lenta.ru. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
4. "Chechen war reporter found dead". BBC News. 2006-10-07. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
5. Interfax Assassination Story
6. Moscow's Kommersant daily's report of Politkovskaya's death
7. www.annapolitkovskaya.com, A tribute site in memory of Anna Politkovskaya]
8. "Thousands mourn Russian journalist". Reuters. 2006-10-10. Retrieved 2006-10-10.
9. "500 people rally in Moscow to protest journalist's murder, crackdown on Georgians". The International Herald Tribune. 2006-10-08. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
10. "Многочисленная акция памяти Анны Политковской прошла в центре Москвы на Пушкинской площади" (in Russian). The Ekho Moskvy radio. 2006-10-08. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
11. "Ingush Police Break Up Rally Honoring Politkovskaya". 2006-10-19. Retrieved 2007-05-19.
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15. Her Own Death, Foretold October 15, 2006
16. How the heroes of Russia turned into the tormentors of Chechnya February 27, 2001
17. "...the young officers tortured me, skillfully hitting my sore spots. They looked through my children pictures, making a point of saying what they would like to do to the kids. This went on for about three hours. ("A small corner of hell", page 52).
18. After the mock execution Russian lieutenant colonel said her: "Here's the banya. Take off your clothes". Seeing that his words had no effect, he got very angry: "A real lieutenant colonel is courting you, and you say no, you militant bitch". Politkovskaya, Anna (2003) A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya, translated by Alexander Burry and Tatiana Tulchinsky, The University of Chicago Press, 2003, ISBN 0-226-67432-0
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23. Live interview with Berezovsky by Evgenia Albats, Radio Echo of Moscow, 11 June 2006. Transcript in Russian, computer translation.
24. Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko. Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB. Free Press, New York, 2007. ISBN 978-1416551652, page 328.
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35. Poisoned by Putin Guardian Unlimited, September 9, 2004
36. Short biography from the 2003 Lettre Ulysses Award
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40. "Disquiet On The Chechen Front", TIMEeurope Heroes 2003
41. Video - on the documenting the Chechen war as Russian journalist, PBS' Democracy on Deadline
42. http://http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6965253.stm
43. Chaika was appointed to his current position by Putin on June 23, 2006
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45. ^ Russia: Politkovskaya's Colleagues Dispute Official Investigation, By Brian Whitmore, RFE/RL, August 28, 2007
46. Berezovsky Masterminded Murders of Politkovskaya, Litvinenko, Tregubova, Lugovoy Said Aug. 29, 2007
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53. Генпрокуратура знает, кто стрелял в Политковскую. По нашим данным, киллером может быть 30-летний чеченец Рустам Махмудов Komsomolskaya Pravda 29 March 2007
54. ^ Agents of special services are among organizers of Politkovskaya assassination. However someone protects them by disclosing secret materials of the criminal case by Sergei Sokolov, 06.04.2008
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63. Встреча С Прошлым
64. Свою Историю Болезни Я Так И Не Видел… Зачем?
65. Новости NEWSru.com :: Близкие Гайдара скрывают, в какой больнице он находится, опасаясь за его жизнь (ВЕРСИИ отравления)
66. Ежедневный Журнал
67. Terror-99
68. Агент Неизвестен
69. «Александр всегда знал, что за ним охотятся» - svobodanews.ru
70. Russia: High-Profile Killings, Attempted Killings In The Post-Soviet Period, by RFE/RL

External links

• Interfax Assassination Story
• A suspicious death in Russia, The Economist, 8 October 2006
• Template:Ru icon For what reason did Putin the spy kill Politkovskaya

• Assassinations
• 2006 in Russia
• 2006 in politics
• 2006 crimes