It has been a year since Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was murdered, and her newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, is reporting that government investigators know who killed her.
Politkovskaya was a dogged investigator and human rights champion. Russian president Vladimir V. Putin was a frequent target of her articles. One of the issues she covered most closely involved Russia’s wars in Chechnya.
On October 7, 2006, she was shot multiple times as she entered her apartment building. The killing was one in a long list of murders of journalists in Russia. So far, eleven people have been arrested as suspects in the case, but all are described as middlemen and accomplices, not the ones who planned the killing.
The Novaya Gazeta editor was quoted in the New York Times as saying he doubted that the investigation will lead directly to Putin. However, he does fault the president for creating “a climate in which journalists are enemies, democracy is not an efficient way of management or rule, and the special services are a new ruling class, a ruling elite, to which everything is permitted.”
Even if a mastermind is named, however, we may never know the full story. The Committee to Protect Journalists, which is closely following the investigation, has characterized the inquiry so far as “not encouraging.” The investigative team has been shuffled, trusted prosecutors demoted and some suspects have been released. Putin himself seems to be shaping the direction the investigation is taking by pointing the finger at “enemies abroad” meaning to “create a wave of anti-Russian sentiment internationally.”
The investigation may yet lead to some outside participation, which Politkovskaya’s family acknowledges. Yet it seems crystal clear that any journalist doing investigative work on corruption, human rights and government malfeasance continues to put their lives at risk.
You can add your voice to those calling for justice by writing or faxing Putin:
His Excellency Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
The Kremlin
Moscow, Russia
Via Facsimile: 011 7 495 206 5137/206 6277