A memorial for Novaya gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya was combined with a protest against anti-Georgian discrimination on Pushkin Sqaure in downtown Moscow, October 8, 2006.
Photo: Pavel Smertin
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Journalist Gives Her Life for Her Profession
// Anna Politkovskaya Gets Her Way, Chechen authorities will be checked
The murder of Novaya gazeta newspaper reporter Anna Politkovskaya may shift the balance of political power in Chechnya. Politkovskaya concentrated on Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, whom Politkovskaya thought should be on trial rather than running in elections, and his associates. Now, whether they are implicated in the investigation of her death or not, federal authorities are likely to give their approval for a massive check of the political and law enforcement figures of that republic. One theory has it that that was the motive for her murder.
Anna Politkovskaya Hunted Down by a Pair
Investigators are reconstructing the murder of Politkovskaya minute by minute. At 4:05 p.m. on Saturday, Politkovskaya returned to her home at 8/12 Lesnaya St. from the Ramstor supermarket on Frunzenskaya Embankment. She parked her silver VAZ-2110 recreational vehicle several yards from the entrance to her building and carried two bags of groceries to her apartment. She then took the elevator down to get the remaining three bags of vegetable, cleaning supplies and personal hygiene products from the backseat of her car. The killer struck at 4:10 on the first floor of the building. Forensic experts say that the first two shots were fatal, with the bullets hitting near her heart. The third bullet hit her in the shoulder. Then the killer shot the already dead journalist in the head.
Her neighbors did not hear Politkovskaya being killed because the murderer used an Izh pistol with a silencer. Then he threw that pistol, which had its serial number filed off, next to the body. At 4:15 a neighbor discovered the body when she summoned the elevator. Six minutes later, she called the police emergency number 02 and reported the crime.
Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Viktor Grin headed the investigation team at the crime site. Prosecutor General Yury Chaika took the case under his personal supervision. Criminal case No. 376196, premeditated murder, was begun by the prosecutor for Moscow's Central District half an hour after the crime took place.
Investigators found images of the killer on video recordings made by the camera in the entrance to Politkovskaya's building and in Ramstore. The recordings, which were transmitted to the server of a private security company, show that the assumed murderer was a thin young man about 180 cm. tall dressed in dark clothes. He enters the building before her murder and leaves afterward. His facial features are barely distinguishable on the recordings, but salespeople in the pharmacy near the building's entrance helped create a sketch of him. The same person was spotted by surveillance cameras in the Ramstor where Politkovskaya had done her shopping. Investigators concluded from the Ramstor footage that the killer was aided by a woman of about 30 who followed Politkovskaya in the store. Law enforcement agencies are now searching for both of those people.
Investigators questioned Politkovskaya's relatives when they arrived at the scene of the crime and took documents from her apartment and arrived at the editorial offices of Novaya gazeta around 8:00. “They inventoried then took away all the objects in Anna's desk. There were many letters that she had received from everywhere, including from Chechnya, a slips of paper with telephone numbers on them,” one of Politkovskaya's colleagues told Kommersant. “Drawing up the inventory list took the most time.”
Another Novaya gazeta reporter recounted that investigators took folders full of documents, copies of the criminal cases Politkovskaya was working on and her computer. “They even took the papers that had filed in cabinets and general storage. They didn't leave a paper behind, and I think it's a good thing. It means they really want to find out everything,” the journalist said. “After they took the documents, they questioned me. They asked in detail about what Anna was working on, what kind of person she was and how her relations were with the staff. They only let me go home at 5:00 in the morning.”
When they finished their search and questioning, investigators got a record of the recent calls on her cellular telephone from the operator. They will get the records of the calls from her home phone as well, in hopes that the killer or his accomplice may be among them. It was through telephone calls that investigators located the alleged killer of Paul Klebnikov, although the Chechens accused in that case were found not guilty at trial. So far, investigators are seeking a motive for her killing in Politkovskaya's recent publications in Novaya gazeta and other media.
25-Million Ruble Reward
Most of her publications were related to Chechnya. On September 28 of this year, Novaya gazeta published Politkovskaya's article “Vindictive Collusion,” in which she told of former field commanders who now lead law enforcement agencies in Chechnya. “Most of the followers of Kadyrov, Yamadaev and Kakiev are fighting on the side of the federal forces to avoid blood vengeance or to take vengeance,” she wrote. “Members of those divisions are involved in the same kidnappings and commit torture and murder. Their cruelty has long been comparable to the death squads' of Russian officers in the special services, but their activities are more selective.” Specific cases of kidnapping, with the names of those she considered their perpetrators – fighters and heads of the law enforcement structures controlled by Ramzan Kadyrov, were given in the article.
Politkovskaya's last appearance in the media was on Radio Liberty on the program Press Hour on October 5. That broadcast was dedicated to Kadyrov's birthday. “She was in a very difficult situation in those days,” program host Elena Rykovtseva said. “Her mother was diagnosed with final-stage cancer a week before, and her father died of a heart attack as he was leaving the Metro on his way to visit her mother. And then her mother had a heart attack too. Her sister came from abroad and they sat with their mother. Anna told me all of that, and I said, I won't do the program about Kadyrov without you. Everyone who goes to Chechnya comes back delighted.' I knew she had an unambiguously radical position. She said, “Yes, everybody goes there and they get to them, even our Latynina.' And she promised to come. But she couldn't come. She went on the air by telephone. She participated in the program off and on – she would leave her mother's room and call and then go back.”
Over the air, Politkovskaya spoke of the growing number of kidnappings in Chechnya committed by followers of Kadyrov and she called Ramzan Kadyrov himself “a coward armed to the teeth and surrounded by bodyguards.” “I have two photographs on my desk now,” she said. “I am conducting an investigation. [The photographs are of] Kadyrov's torture chambers today and in the past. And people who were kidnapped for no clear reason… The photographs that I am speaking to you about show savagely tortured bodies.” The article that Politkovskaya referred to on the air was supposed to appear on Monday. Politkovskaya said that Kadyrov should be put on trial. “My dream on Kadryov's birthday is about one thing alone. I dream that he should face trial. And the strictest legal procedures with the listing and investigation of all his crimes should take place.”
Vyacheslav Izmailov, the military correspondent for Novaya gazeta, who also specializes in Chechnya, thinks that any number of the people she wrote about could be involved in her killing. “People from the FSB and GRU [Main Department of Intelligence]; Chechens connected with Razman Kadyrov, Sulim Yamadaev or Movladi Baisarov; some thug like Cadet' Sergey Lapin [a Nizhnevartovsk policeman who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for kidnapping a Chechena], or pseudo-patriots and fascists taking vengeance on Anna for insulting the Russian Army, in their opinion,” he lists. “We are giving priority to the theory that Chechens connected with the special services killed Anna. It was a thug, but not a crazy person, as some are suggesting.” Izmailov said he was not surprised by what happened. “Anna has been receiving threats for seven years [since the beginning of the war in Chechnya] and was afraid, but she knew how to overcome her fear, because she understood how important what she was doing was,” he said. Editor-in-chief of Novaya gazeta Dmitry Muratov told Kommersant that “As long as the investigation is underway, I am not going to analyze theories.” He added that he has no doubt that they will find Politkovskaya's murderers, especially since Novaya gazeta shareholder Alexander Lebedev has declared a 25-million ruble reward for information on the criminals. A special issue of the newspaper came out on Monday, dedicated to Anna Politkovskaya.
The Chechen Connection
President of Chechnya Alu Alkhanov and Prime Minister Kadyrov reacted to the murder only yesterday, when they “sharply condemned” the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. Their statement made it clear that they did not share the journalist's opinions that the problems in the republic, but they acknowledged that “all of her publications were dictated by concern for the fate of the country and the rights of citizens and each person individually.” They were sorry for the deceased “as a person and as a journalist.”
“The event [murder] is a serious reason to think and make serious conclusions,” Kadyrov stated. He added that “to make suggestions that have no basis or serious proof is to discuss it on the level of rumor and gossip, which is not to the credit of the press or of politicians.”
Those close to the Chechen prime minister say that the killing of Politkovskaya, if it was connected with her publications about the republic, was to the benefit of Kadyrov's enemies most of all. Those enemies, such as former Chechen law enforcement connected with the special services, organized the journalist's murder on Russian President Vladimir Putin's birthday to discredit Kadyrov and prevent his appointment to be president of the republic. If that logic is developed, Politkovskaya was chosen to be the victim because literally the whole country knew about her conflict with Kadyrov. For that reason, Kadyrov had the least interest of all of them in killing her. The same goes for the former field commanders who have joined the federal side.
It can be suggested, however, that the killing was not a typical contract murder. There may be no organizer of the murder at all. “An excess of initiative may have been shown from below,” an investigator commented. “One of the people fanatically devoted to one of the figures in her publication could have killed Politkovskaya. Some phrase uttered in anger by the official or commander could have pushed him to commit the murder.”
Whoever it was, he accomplished his goal. Kadyrov and the heads of Chechen law enforcement are under suspicion. So far only by the press, but that situation could change if the prosecutor general receives permission from the authorities to develop the theory of a political killing. In that case, the careers of many Chechen officials and commanders will be threatened, even if they were not involved in the murder of the journalist. The investigation of one murder, as a rule, uncovers dozens of other crimes. In any case, all of the information in Politkovskaya's articles will probably be carefully verified.
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Who Was Unhappy with Anna Politkovskaya
February 21, 2001. Anna Politkovskaya was detained in the Chechen town of Khatuni and deported from the republic two days later for violations of accreditation rules. She said that she found a filtration camps for Chechens under the control of the 45th parachuters' regiment and that the military threatened to shoot her for it. The command of the United Group of Forces in Chechnya called her statement “a lie and provocation.”
September 10, 2001. In her article “Disappearing People,” Politkovskaya accused police controlled by the Chechen Interior Ministry of killing civilians. Soon she began to receive electronic messages from “Cadet,” the alias of one of the policemen mentioned in the article, Sergey Lapin), who “trained as a sniper and intend[s] to visit Moscow.” In March 2005, a Grozny court sentenced Lapin to 11 years in prison for mistreating Chechens, but his participation in the threats against Politkovskaya was not proven.
February 9, 2002. Politkovskaya disappeared during a trip to Chechnya. She reappeared in Nazran several days later and reported that she had been “hiding from the FSB,” which wanted to intervene in the investigation of the killing of civilians. The FSB stated that Novaya gazeta created the scandal in an effort to ease its financial problems.
Since 2003, Politkovskaya had been accusing Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov and his “tem” of kidnapping, extortion and other crimes. The publications were a source of discontent in Grozny and Kadyrov threatened to sue her for “humiliating” his family.
ya gazeta editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov said that the secretary of the Chechen Security Council warned him in May 2006 that “Politkovskaya is looking for adventures.” Muratov did not mention any names, but the secretary of the Chechen Security Council at that time was Khairudin Visengiriev.
September 2, 2004. Politkovskaya was hospitalized in serious condition after being sent to cover the hostage crisis in Beslan. She claimed that was intentionally poisoned by FSB agents and that the “KGB's 13th laboratory, which makes poisons” was operating again.
In September 2004, Novaya gazeta published a series of articles critical Ingushetain President Murat Zyazikov. Zyazikov responded that he doesn't read “fabrications” nor react to them, but calls appeared in the local media to “repay the stupidity generously.” Ingushetian journalists even called Politkovskaya “the midwife of terrorism and war.”
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Alexander Zheglov, Alek Akhundov, Olga Allenova, Sergey Mashkin
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 09, 2006
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