In Memory: Anna Politkovskaya

On Sunday 7 October meetings in memory of the journalist and human rights defender murdered a year ago were held in Russia and in many other countries. Around one and a half thousand people gathered in Moscow in the pouring rain. The meeting began with a minute’s silence, and was then addressed by the Chief Editor of Anna’s newspaper, Novaya gazeta, Dmitry Muratov.. He spoke of how the investigation into the killing was being wrecked, and how a complete free-for-all reigned. He stressed that Anna Politkovskaya would still be alive had the authorities reacted two years ago to reports that two officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, arrested in connection with her murder, were involved in extortion and torture. Dmitry Muratov told the gathering that over the last seven days, Novaya gazeta had reconnected the phone which fell silent after Anna’s murder. Over those days hundreds and hundreds of people had called the number, those same people who were left without Anna’s help, or who simply needed to thank her. However there had been three important and significant pieces of information. One was that unfortunately the time had arrived for successful scum, and that in order to be successful, more often than not you needed to be a swine. He mentioned also how little democrats were heard, and said that today was probably an exception. The third thing to communicate was the need to put a stop to the conflict between democrats and to join forces. He called for public control over the MIA, FSB and other enforcement agencies committing crimes like Anna’s murder. He said he was convinced that without a Nuremburg Trial over these agencies, such crimes would continue, and stressed the need for all supporters of democratic values to unite. The above is a seriously shortened version of a report on Radio Svoboda. A lot of those present were opposition politicians, and while they doubtless had many important things to say, on this day we will refrain from reporting them all. In Kyiv people honoured Anna Politkovskaya’s memory with a moment’s silence near the Russian Embassy.