Anna Politkovskaya

Two years before she was killed in the stairwell of her Moscow apartment, Anna Politkovskaya mused about life as the Kremlin's number one enemy and pronounced it a "miracle" that she was still alive. The journalist, lauded for her fearless reporting of Russian atrocities in Chechnya, made the comment during the interviews that make up the moving documentary film "Lettre a Anna" (Letter to Anna) released this week in France. The letter of the title is written by Swiss filmmaker Eric Bergkraut who had recorded four in-depth interviews with Politkovskaya for another film on Russia when she was murdered on October 7, 2006. He ... Read Full Story

Russia fails to protect journalists, activists, prison inmates and others at odds with authorities from a wide range of abuses, including torture and murder, the U.N. Human Rights Committee said Friday. The findings came in a report by an 18-member panel of independent experts who urged the Kremlin to implement a number of legal reforms. They include narrowing the broad definitions of terrorism and extremism under Russian law, decriminalizing defamation cases against journalists and granting appeal rights to people forced into psychiatric hospitals by the courts. The report said Russia was responsible for reported attacks on civilians by armed groups in South Ossetia in ... Read Full Story

Three years after the killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, hundreds attended a demonstration in her memory in central Moscow Wednesday, with the assassin and mastermind of the murder still at large. Around 500 people, including liberal politicians, popular cultural figures and Politkovskaya's daughter Vera took part in the officially approved demonstration at 4:03 pm (1203 GMT), the exact time when Politkovskaya was shot outside her apartment building on October 7, 2006. In a heavy show of security, supporters passed through metal detectors and police and anti-riot police were posted around the perimeter. The demonstration was only allowed for 300 people, speakers said. At least ... Read Full Story

Russia on Thursday halted the new trial into the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya to launch a fresh search for the assassin almost three years after her killing shocked the world. The Russian supreme court approved a motion brought by Politkovskaya's family for the case to be brought back to prosecutors, halting a new trial into her murder that had begun in August. "Our demand was entirely satisfied," Karinna Moskalenko, a lawyer for the Politkovskaya family told AFP. Russia has still failed to find either the actual killer or the mastermind of the October 7, 2006 murder when the bitterly anti-Kremlin reporter was shot ... Read Full Story

Russia on Thursday ordered a new search for the assassins of journalist Anna Politkovskaya after failing to shed light on the murder in the three years since her killing shocked the world. The Russian supreme court approved a motion brought by Politkovskaya's family for the case to be brought back to prosecutors for a fresh investigation into who carried out and ordered the killing. "Our demand was entirely satisfied," Karinna Moskalenko, a lawyer for the Politkovskaya family told AFP. Russia has still failed to find either the actual killer or the mastermind of the October 7, 2006 murder when the bitterly anti-Kremlin reporter was ... Read Full Story