Far away from Morocco an event has taken place that should touch us all. A fellow journalist and writer, Anna Politkovskaya, was murdered on October 7th. The RIA-Novosti news agency, citing police officials, reported that Politkovskaya was shot twice, the second time in the head. Few people believe that this was anything other than yet another attempt to silence her. Anna's body was found in an elevator in her Moscow apartment building at 18/13 Lesnaya Street. A pistol (a 9mm Makarov) and bullets were found at the site of the crime. Her killer, a young man - dressed in black - was caught on a A CCTV camera as he approached the drab apartment building. No arrest has been made and the Russian government (as usual) say they will hold a "wide-ranging investigation".
While I was researching the novel Black Widow in 2004, I was concerned for Anna’s safety, when on a flight from Moscow to Beslan she became dangerously ill with symptoms of food poisoning after drinking tea offered to her. She had hoped to arrive in North Ossetia during the school hostage drama in Beslan to mediate the crisis. Her colleagues suggested the incident was an attempt on her life and I believe she had been deliberately poisoned to stop her from reporting on the crisis. As a mark or respect at the time, I included the incident in the novel.
There was never any question about her bravery. When Chechen militants took hundreds of hostages in a Moscow theatre in October 2002, Anna was one of the few people to have entered to negotiate with the rebels.
Joel Simon, executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists echoes the thoughts of many writers around the world. ‘Anna was a hero to so many of us, and we'll miss her personally, but we'll also miss the information that she and only she was brave enough and dedicated enough to dig out and make public, and that's a loss that I'm not sure can ever be replaced.’
Politkovskaya's death is the highest-profile killing of a journalist in Russia since they July 2004 slaying of Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine.
Russia has become one of the deadliest places for journalists. Twenty-three journalists were killed in the country between 1996 and 2005, many more in Chechnya and according to CPJ. at least 12 have been murdered in contract-style killings since Putin came to power.
Politkovskaya had been receiving threats since 1999 after she wrote articles claiming that the Russian armed forces had committed human rights abuses in Chechnya. Despite these threats she continued to write and in 2003 published A Dirty War: A Russian Reporter in Chechnya. She is also a co-contributor to A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya, published in 2003. Her most recent book, Putin's War: Life in A Failing Democracy, is to be published in paperback in December this year.
Jiri Grusa, President of the writers’ organisation International PEN paid tribute: ‘Anna Politkovskaya is a courageous writer known for her criticism not only of the Chechen war but also of the totalitarian backlash characterizing the latest developments in Russia. Her death raises serious concerns and confirms all the fears. We protest in the strongest terms the situation in Russia that has allowed this to occur.’
Anna, who was only 48, leaves behind her daughter Vera and son Ilya. The sympathy of the writing community around the world goes out to them.
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