Investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who chronicled military abuses against Chechen civilians and garnered accolades and awards from around the world, was killed in her apartment building on 7th of October. Politkovskaya, 48, was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in an elevator in her apartment building at 8/12 Lesnaya Ulitsa near Belorussky Station in central Moscow.
Politkovskaya was not only active in word. On the eve of the federal attack on Grozny in December 1999, she organized the evacuation of 89 residents of an old age home and helped them resettle elsewhere in Russia. In October 2002, she tried to negotiate with the terrorists who had taken over the Dubrovka Theater.
According to Reporters Without Borders, 68 journalists were killed worldwide on the job in 2005. According to the International Federation of Journalists, the 42 reporters killed or kidnapped in Russia over the last 15 years puts Russia behind only Iraq and Algeria with 78 and 60, respectively.
When there is institutional pressure on the media, independent voices become increasingly rare and associated with particular individuals. Everyone today is calling Anna Politkovskaya a symbol of journalistic freedom. Symbols are always in the public eye. But real people are easy to shoot with a Makarov pistol.
European Greens demand the international investiganion of murder of Anna Politkovskaya under control of Council of Europe. European Greens demand from president of Russia Vladimir Putin to pay maximum attention to this case.
