Justice still pending in Politkovskaya murder case

New York, October 7, 2011–Five years after the brutal assassination of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Russian authorities to prosecute the masterminds of her killing and end impunity in the murder of journalists.

“The arrest of several suspects in the Politkovskaya case still leaves Russian authorities with the challenge of identifying and prosecuting those who ordered her killing,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Coordinator Nina Ognianova. “Only by punishing the masterminds will Russia make a significant dent in the impunity that shields those who silence journalists through murder.”

Politkovskaya, a special correspondent for the Moscow-based triweekly Novaya Gazeta, was well known for her investigative reports on human rights abuses in Chechnya. Throughout her career, she was threatened, jailed, forced into exile, and poisoned, CPJ research shows. She was shot dead in Moscow on October 7, 2006. In the last decade, 17 journalists have been murdered with impunity in Russia, CPJ research shows.