Anti-Putin journalist killed in hit
Mark Franchetti, Moscow
October 09, 2006
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20547430-2703,00.html
RUSSIA'S most famous investigative reporter, Anna Politkovskaya, was shot in the head in the lift of her Moscow apartment block at the weekend in an apparent contract killing.
The fearless opponent of Russia's wars in Chechnya who once described President Vladimir Putin as a "KGB snoop" and compared him with Stalin, was gunned down as she returned home on Saturday afternoon, local time.
A pistol and four spent cartridges were found near her body.
She was the most prominent of dozens of Russian journalists murdered in the past 10 years, and the killing has dealt a serious blow to the country's reputation.
Police yesterday were hunting a young man wearing a black baseball cap who was seen leaving the scene of the murder.
Politkovskaya, 48 and divorced with two children, was one of the few Russian journalists who dared to write critically about human rights abuses in Chechnya.
She won international acclaim for her reports, and was a speaker at this year's Sydney Writers Festival.
Despised by many in Russia's security forces, she had received numerous threats and two years ago she was apparently poisoned on her way to Beslan during the school siege that ended with more than 300 deaths.
"We've only just found out and can't believe this has happened. We are in a state of shock," said Vitaly Yaroshevsky, the deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta, the newspaper that employed her.
"What we know is that she was found dead by a neighbour in her lift. This is a professional murder," he said.
"We have little doubt that she was killed because of her work. Her reporting made her many enemies. For us her death is a catastrophe."
In an interview while visiting London two years ago, she stated prophetically: "I'm absolutely sure that risk is a usual part of my job, of the job of a Russian journalist, and I cannot stop because it is my duty."
Renowned for her courageous campaigning, Politkovskaya, whose book on the war in Chechnya made her many enemies, accused Mr Putin of rolling back democracy and clamping down on media freedom. She was especially critical of his backing of Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Russian Chechen Prime Minister, whose forces she accused of a wave of kidnappings and extra-judicial killings. Mr Yaroshevsky said Politkovskaya had recently written many articles on Mr Kadyrov.
She had been due to publish her next story on his regime today.
"She was writing that in Chechnya a bandit state is being created," he said. While hated by pro-Russian Chechen forces, Politkovskaya commanded the respect of many ordinary Chechens.
Her reputation was such that, during the Moscow theatre siege four years ago, she acted as a negotiator between Chechen gunmen and the Russian authorities and was allowed into the besieged building several times.
At the high point of the war in Chechnya, Politkovskaya was detained by Russian security forces for three days.
She was held in a pit without food and water, and endured a mock execution.
At a time when most of Russia's press has been muzzled by the Kremlin, Politkovskaya was a dissenting voice. Her stories always created a stir and in a telling sign of censorship, her book Putin's Russia was not published in her homeland.
"I am not on a crusade," she once told The Sunday Times.
"But I feel that someone has to write about what is happening in our country. I have always been driven by a sense of solidarity for ordinary people who suffer at the hands of this regime.
"In Chechnya, unspeakable war crimes have been committed but hardly anyone has the guts to write about it. I don't want my son to grow up in a country which allows such things to happen."
In Putin's Russia, she warned that her country was moving back to a Soviet-style dictatorship.
"This is a political murder," said Alexei Malashenko, a political commentator who knew Politkovskaya well.
"There is no doubt in my mind that she was killed because of her work. She was fearless.
"If the state killed her then we don't need such a state. And if someone else silenced her then it's a matter of honour for the state to track down her killers. This is a terrible tragedy."
The Sunday Times
Let us take a moment to value the freedoms of speech and opinion that we have here in Australia. Let us take the time to appreciate that we have a system here in Australia that will not tolerate leaders who place themselves above the laws of ordinary people.
To the Russians,
You had a wonderful opportunity in the early 1990s to enjoy the freedoms that we in Australia hold so dear. But you traded them in for this new totalitarian security.
Don't expect my pity.
Mark Franchetti, Moscow
October 09, 2006
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20547430-2703,00.html
RUSSIA'S most famous investigative reporter, Anna Politkovskaya, was shot in the head in the lift of her Moscow apartment block at the weekend in an apparent contract killing.
The fearless opponent of Russia's wars in Chechnya who once described President Vladimir Putin as a "KGB snoop" and compared him with Stalin, was gunned down as she returned home on Saturday afternoon, local time.
A pistol and four spent cartridges were found near her body.
She was the most prominent of dozens of Russian journalists murdered in the past 10 years, and the killing has dealt a serious blow to the country's reputation.
Police yesterday were hunting a young man wearing a black baseball cap who was seen leaving the scene of the murder.
Politkovskaya, 48 and divorced with two children, was one of the few Russian journalists who dared to write critically about human rights abuses in Chechnya.
She won international acclaim for her reports, and was a speaker at this year's Sydney Writers Festival.
Despised by many in Russia's security forces, she had received numerous threats and two years ago she was apparently poisoned on her way to Beslan during the school siege that ended with more than 300 deaths.
"We've only just found out and can't believe this has happened. We are in a state of shock," said Vitaly Yaroshevsky, the deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta, the newspaper that employed her.
"What we know is that she was found dead by a neighbour in her lift. This is a professional murder," he said.
"We have little doubt that she was killed because of her work. Her reporting made her many enemies. For us her death is a catastrophe."
In an interview while visiting London two years ago, she stated prophetically: "I'm absolutely sure that risk is a usual part of my job, of the job of a Russian journalist, and I cannot stop because it is my duty."
Renowned for her courageous campaigning, Politkovskaya, whose book on the war in Chechnya made her many enemies, accused Mr Putin of rolling back democracy and clamping down on media freedom. She was especially critical of his backing of Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Russian Chechen Prime Minister, whose forces she accused of a wave of kidnappings and extra-judicial killings. Mr Yaroshevsky said Politkovskaya had recently written many articles on Mr Kadyrov.
She had been due to publish her next story on his regime today.
"She was writing that in Chechnya a bandit state is being created," he said. While hated by pro-Russian Chechen forces, Politkovskaya commanded the respect of many ordinary Chechens.
Her reputation was such that, during the Moscow theatre siege four years ago, she acted as a negotiator between Chechen gunmen and the Russian authorities and was allowed into the besieged building several times.
At the high point of the war in Chechnya, Politkovskaya was detained by Russian security forces for three days.
She was held in a pit without food and water, and endured a mock execution.
At a time when most of Russia's press has been muzzled by the Kremlin, Politkovskaya was a dissenting voice. Her stories always created a stir and in a telling sign of censorship, her book Putin's Russia was not published in her homeland.
"I am not on a crusade," she once told The Sunday Times.
"But I feel that someone has to write about what is happening in our country. I have always been driven by a sense of solidarity for ordinary people who suffer at the hands of this regime.
"In Chechnya, unspeakable war crimes have been committed but hardly anyone has the guts to write about it. I don't want my son to grow up in a country which allows such things to happen."
In Putin's Russia, she warned that her country was moving back to a Soviet-style dictatorship.
"This is a political murder," said Alexei Malashenko, a political commentator who knew Politkovskaya well.
"There is no doubt in my mind that she was killed because of her work. She was fearless.
"If the state killed her then we don't need such a state. And if someone else silenced her then it's a matter of honour for the state to track down her killers. This is a terrible tragedy."
The Sunday Times
Let us take a moment to value the freedoms of speech and opinion that we have here in Australia. Let us take the time to appreciate that we have a system here in Australia that will not tolerate leaders who place themselves above the laws of ordinary people.
To the Russians,
You had a wonderful opportunity in the early 1990s to enjoy the freedoms that we in Australia hold so dear. But you traded them in for this new totalitarian security.
Don't expect my pity.
