Death of A Reporter: Anya

[ In 1996 in Kyiv, Ukraine, I was privileged to meet Anna Politkovskaya, ace reporter for Novaya Gazeta. She was in Kyiv covereing the 10th. anniversary memorial of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster. We became friends. She spoke very good English & well she should since she was born in the USA. More on that at the end of the article. her courage & her intelelct were evidentin her person, her writing & her fans hung onher words as a lifeline in times of deceit & false news. Anya will be missed, not only in Russia & Ukraine, but worldwide. R.I.P. Anya! ]

                  Death of A Reporter: ANYA
On Saturday, October 7th, Anna Politkovskaya, correspondent of Novaya Gazeta was killed in the stairwell of her home

Novaya Gazeta
Moscow, Russia
October 9, 2006

She was beautiful, and through the years became only more beautiful. Do you do know why? At first we merely receive our countenance from God, and then the rest we make of it ourselves in the way that we live.

Still, they say that in maturity the soul begins to appear on face. Her soul was beautiful.

She was feminine. She knew how to laugh and joke and cry from injustice. Any injustice, no matter with respect to whom, she took as her personal enemy, and she fought it with all her strength.

She was amazingly courageous, much more courageous than those many macho types in their armored jeeps, surrounded by bodyguards.

They threatened her, they tried to intimidate her, and arranged shadows and searches. She was arrested in Chechnya by "our own" airborne forces, and they threatened to shoot her.

They poisoned her when she flew to Beslan. She clawed her way back to life, and, though afterwards she was never really as healthy as before, her conscience was all the stronger.

Many people, even well-wishers of Novaya Gazeta, now and then said: "Well, your Politkovskaya - she's too much already..." Not too much! She always wrote the truth.

For the average person, probably, the most difficult thing is to turn away from a terrible fact. But, if we were to look evil directly in the eye, it cannot remain; it will pass.

Anya looked evil directly in the eye, and, perhaps, she remained the conqueror in the worst situations. Perhaps she remained alive where her lowered eyes would have meant her death.

In Europe, and in America, right now the question is being discussed: what is the state of the independent media in Russia? Novaya Gazeta in recent years has had three of its leading journalists murdered.

Igor Domnikov.
His killers - because of the efforts of honest detectives and this newspaper - were brought to court.

Yuri Shchekochihin.
Even the authorities in his homeland refused to look at the results of his autopsy... but we are continuing our investigation, and his killers will be punished.

Now they have taken our Anya Politkovskaya... They killed not just a journalist, not just a human rights advocate, or a citizen, they killed a beautiful woman and mother.

While there is still a Novaya Gazeta, her killers will not sleep quietly.

Read this entire story at:
http://novayagazeta.ru

FOOTNOTE: 
Anna Politkovskaya was born Anna Mazepa in New York City in 1958, where her Soviet Ukrainian parents were diplomats at the United Nations. She studied journalism at Moscow State University, graduating in 1980, and began her career with the Izvestia newspaper.

More On Anya's Murder:
Anna Politkovskaya, a famous journalist and a columnist for Novaya Gazeta was murdered this Saturday in Moscow. She is known first of all for her materials about Chechnya and Northern Caucasus and also for her harsh opposition to the current regime in Russia. The main murder theory is "journalistic." Human rights activist Liudmila Alekseeva explained, "She told the truth, and that is why she was killed." State Duma deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov said,  "She investigated Beslan, Nord-Ost and national corruption – that's where the motives should be sought."
   
Anna Politkovskaya was murdered on Saturday
As reported previously Politkovskaya received many threats but there are speculations about their sources. For example, the murder could have been committed by the Chechens offended by one of journalist's publications in Novaya Gazeta.

According to another more credible theory she could have been murdered by the rightwing extremists who have recently become a lot more active. Such people on multiple occasions accused Politkovskaya of betraying the Russian people.

The radical opposition basically blames the Kremlin for the tragedy since it initiated a campaign against the liberals and the human rights activists accusing them of cooperating with the West to Russia's disadvantage. However even the harshest opposition does not assume the government's direct involvement in the crime.

At the same time many experts siding with the Kremlin speculate that the incident served as a provocation aimed at discrediting the current administration.

The murder of Politkovskaya has dealt a serious blow to the government's position in the public arena. This is the second major assassination in the recent months: not long ago the vice-president of Tsentrobank Andrey Kozlov was also shot dead. These cases produce an unstable atmosphere because even in the 1990's – the notorious years of criminal chaos – murders of such scale were still rare.

The death of Anna Politkovskaya produced a situation that forces the Russian government into defensive position under conditions of harsh criticism from the outside and ineffective strategy against the right wing radicals from within. The only way to deal with the situation is to find the murders and to present undeniable evidence of their guilt.

http://www.Politcom.ru

Translated by Natalia Vysotskaya

Read the entire story at:

http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/09-10-2006/84949-anna-0