It is five years since the day of Anna Politkovskaya’s murder today

Today is the day of the fifth anniversary of the death of Anna Politkovskaya, observer of “Novaya Gazeta”, who is first of all famous for her writings devoted to Chechnya and Northern Caucasus.

It should be reminded that Anna Politkovskaya was shot down on October, 7, 2006, in the house in Lesnaya street in Moscow where she rented a flat. The last interview in Politkovskaya’s life for the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent done almost an hour before the murder was about career perspective of Ramzan Kadyrov, then Prime Minister, now Head of Chechnya.

Politkovskaya’s last publication in “Novaya Gazeta”, “Punitive Collusion”, was devoted to the composition and activities of Chechen detachments fighting in the interests of federal military forces. Her article on tortures in Chechnya was expected to be published in the next issue of “Novaya Gazeta”. Its subject was Kadyrov’s possible involvement in kidnapping.

Beside doing journalist’s work, Politkovskaya was a human rights activist, she helped lost soldiers’ mothers stand up for their rights in court, carried out inquiry on corruption in the Ministry of Defense of Russia and high command of the United forces of federal troops in Chechnya, helped the victims of “North-East”, firmly and emotionally criticized the present Russian authorities.

“Why did I take a dislike to Putin? That’s it. For his simplicity which is worse than robbery. For cynicism. For racism. For endless war. For his falsehood.

For the gas in “North-East”. For the dead bodies of innocent murder victims, his companions throughout his whole Presidency term. Victims that might be avoided”, Politkovskaya wrote in her book “Putin’s Russia” first published in Great Britain in 2004.

According to Ombudsman of Russia Vladimir Lukin, Politkovskaya was “a human rights activist and journalist in the true sense of the word, she was a hero of Russia”. However, Putin said that Anna Politkovskaya’s murder “of itself does more harm to the present authority both in the whole Russia and Chechen Republic to which she had professionally devoted herself lately than her writings”.

Every year various actions are organized in Anna Politkovskaya’s memory before the anniversary of her death. One of these took place on October, 5, within the framework of PACE autumn session in Strasbourg.