IPI Reiterates Call for Justice on the Second Anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya’s Murder
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in over 120 countries, reiterates its call for justice in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, a renowned Russian journalist assassinated two years ago. Although charges have been made against the individuals believed to have carried out the murder, those responsible for ordering her killing are still at large.
"Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Anna Politkovskaya at this time. We continue to call on the Russian authorities to bring those responsible for Politkovskaya’s murder to justice, and to take concrete steps to prevent the murder of journalists in Russia by addressing the problem of impunity," said IPI Director David Dadge.
According to information before IPI, on 7 October 2006 Politkovskaya, a journalist for the independent daily Novaya Gazeta, was gunned down in her apartment building in Moscow. Her murder bore all the signs of a contract killing. At the time of her death, Politkovskaya had been reportedly working on a story regarding the use of torture in Chechnya. She had received death threats before her murder, and family and colleagues have no doubt that her death was linked to her work as a journalist.
On 13 May 2008, Rustam Makhmudov, an ethnic Chechen, was charged in absentia with Politkovskaya’s murder. Russian authorities, believing that Makhmudov has fled to Western Europe, issued an international warrant for his arrest. Legal proceedings have also been initiated against three other individuals thought to have been involved in the killing, namely Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov – both brothers of Rustam Makhmudov – and Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, a former operative from Moscow City Police Department’s anti-organised crime unit.
"With four journalists murdered this year alone, Russia continues to be one of the most dangerous countries in which to practice journalism," Dadge continued. "A clear signal must be sent that the murder of journalists will not be tolerated, and as IPI stated in an open letter to President Medvedev in May of this year, tackling Russia's many unsolved murdered-journalist cases would be a positive step in this direction."