Court Clears Three Accused in Politkovskaya Murder
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Related subjects: J.E. Robertson, Media, Open Government, Press Freedom, Rights & Freedoms, Security & Surveillance, The Russian Federation Comments Off
A criminal court in Moscow has acquitted three men charged with the assassination of crusading journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The murder, which took place on then president Vladimir Putin’s birthday, shook Russian media and journalism and the human rights world, and put pressure on the Kremlin to crack down on all violence against reporters.
The initially slow response led many to view the government as firmly opposed to the free press, and killings of journalists and human rights investigators have continued at alarming rates. There are consistent accusations that the killings are aimed at preventing information about alleged official abuses coming to light.
According to Reuters:
A Moscow court acquitted three men of involvement in the murder of Kremlin critic and journalist Anna Politkovskaya on Thursday, leaving Russia’s most politically charged killing in years still unsolved.
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Continued impunity could lead any number of potential enemies of the free press in Russia to take even bolder action, putting the lives of any serious invevstigative journalists at risk. As reported by Reuters, Miklos Haraszti — who represents the watchdog Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, on media freedoms issues— said “This failure amounts to a human rights crisis”.
The state of crisis refers to the apparent impunity enjoyed in Russia by those who threaten or kill journalists in order to silence them. Authorities have been accused of incompetence or deliberate negligence in the prosecution. The accused shooter has never been captured, and the individual who ordered the killing has not yet been identified, so there has been no comprehensive investigation of the plot behind the killing.
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