The brutal murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya has sent shockwaves throughout Russia and indeed the world. Her death is considered to be an assassination and the perpetrator is still at large. The term ?assassination? is being used over ?murder? because Politkovskaya was specifically and professionally targeted in her own apartment building. There was no randomness to this crime. Moreover, she was an outspoken critic of the Putin regime and the current Chechen government, specifically writing on human rights violations in Chechnya. In the current climate of Russia, freedom of the press as well as the activities of human rights organizations and NGOs have been severely curtailed. Independent media, particularly media outlets that is critical of the government is becoming less common. In addition, being a journalist in Russia has become an increasingly hazardous occupation. There has been a rash of mysterious deaths and what are perceived to be contract killings of journalists over the last decade including the shooting death of Forbes magazine editor, Paul Klebnikov in July of 2004 . Just recently on October 15th, the business chief of Russian news agency Itar-Tass, Anatoly Voronin was stabbed to death. Details about this story are still unfolding at the time of this writing.
In Russia, accusations are flying from all directions as to who was responsible for Politkovskaya?s death. President Vladimir Putin, while condemning the killing and pledging to find the killers has also made some very strange and disturbing comments about the killing. Putin has stated that Politkovskaya?s journalistic influence was minimal and that her death was ordered by exiles to make Russia look bad and has indeed done much to tarnish Russia?s image. This statement has enraged many of Politkovskaya?s supporters. Her newspaper, Novaya Gazeta has pledged a private investigation and offered a million dollar reward to find her killers.
Certainly Politkovskaya had made a lot of enemies in her journalistic exposures of wrong doing, thereby making the suspect list in her murder quite large. She also had been threatened on several occasions. Colleagues at the newspaper have various theories on who or what forces are behind the killing. This includes Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov?s people, the Russian special services and other military officials as well as Russian nationalists. In other words, suspects could be anyone connected to a group or policies and activities she criticized. While conspiracy theories abound on the specific motive for the killing, President Putin is correct that this killing makes Russia look bad. However, Putin himself has placed Russia in that light by his restrictions of freedom of expression. In this type of atmosphere coupled with an unusually high number of killings of journalists, it is apparent that the free media in Russia is under siege and in danger.
