- Title: Russia marks 10th anniversary of journalist Politkovskaya's killing
- Date: 7th October 2016
- Summary: PERSON IN CROWD HOLDING POSTER POSTER READING (Russia): "THEY KILLED HER ON THE DAY OF HIS (VLADIMIR PUTIN'S) BIRTHDAY. IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE IT'S A MERE COINCIDENCE" WOMAN PLACING FLOWERS NEAR MEMORIAL IN TRIBUTE TO POLITKOVSKAYA OUTSIDE NEWSPAPER BUILDING 'NOVAYA GAZETA' SIGN (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) NOVAYA GAZETA DEPUTY-EDITOR, SERGEI SOKOLOV, SAYING: "Because nobody wants to find (the paymaster of the crime), the main political version that was given was that the paymaster was (Boris) Berezovsky. As is already known, Berezovsky died. And now nobody is interested, because God forbid they find the real paymaster. And if earlier, a big investigative group was in charge of this investigation, then today it is unclear who is dealing with this issue. Nobody is answering the questions of our newspaper or those of the lawyers of the victims." (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) FIRST DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF YABLOKO PARTY'S MOSCOW BRANCH, GALINA MIKHALYOVA, SAYING: "I think it is a peculiarity of our political system and our regime that we still have not solved a single political killing. This did not start with the death of my beloved friend, Anna Politkovskaya, whom I knew. It started with Yury Shchekochikhin, Larisa Yudina and we can continue this mournful list. Generally speaking, since her murder, there have been more than 700 attacks against journalists, 57 were killed. This is an utter tragedy that in Russia specifically those who must tell people the truth become the victims of killings, beatings and so on and these cases are never solved."
- Embargoed: 22nd October 2016 16:37
- Keywords: Anna Politkovskaya journalist killed Russian activist 10th anniversary mourning
- Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- City: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Crime
- Reuters ID: LVA003530C8XZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Colleagues and friends of slain investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya paid tribute to her on the 10th anniversary of her killing on Friday (October 7).
A steady stream of people arrived outside the offices of opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta to light candles and lay flowers at a memorial to Politkovskaya.
Ten years after the 48-year-old was shot in the elevator of her apartment building, as she returned home after shopping for groceries, her friends are still calling for investigators to bring those who ordered her killing to justice.
"Nobody wants to find (the paymaster of the crime). The main political version that was given was that the paymaster was Berezovsky," said the deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta, Sergei Sokolov, referring to Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, the fugitive billionaire businessman who fled to Britain and was found dead in 2013 in a locked bathroom at his home.
Galina Mikhalyova, of the Yabloko Party's Moscow branch, said Politkovskaya was one among a long list of killed journalists whose murders had not been solved.
"This did not start with the death of my beloved friend, Anna Politkovskaya, whom I knew. It started with Yury Shchekochikhin, Larisa Yudina and we can continue this mournful list. Generally speaking, since her murder, there have been more than 700 attacks against journalists, 57 were killed," said Mikhalyova.
A journalist with the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, Politkovskaya had made many enemies, including in the Kremlin, by writing hard-hitting articles exposing corruption in Russia and human rights abuses in the violence-plagued Chechnya region.
In 2014, a Moscow court convicted four Chechens over her murder, along with former Moscow police officer, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov.
But rights activists and relatives of Politkovskaya say that justice will not be done until those who ordered her contract-style killing are identified and convicted. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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