Slain reporter was writing torture story

[Tab]

MOSCOW - A journalist shot to death in an apparent contract killing was about to publish a story about torture and abductions in
Chechnya when she was slain, her editor said Sunday, as Russia's top prosecutor took charge of the case.

Anna Politkovskaya, famed for her unsparing coverage of abuses against civilians in Chechnya in the outspoken newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was found dead Saturday in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building. She had two gunshot wounds — one to the head.

Politkovskaya, 48, had collected witness accounts and photos of tortured bodies and the article had been due for publication Monday, her newspaper's editors said.

"We never got the article, but she had evidence about these (abducted) people and there were photographs," Novaya Gazeta's deputy editor, Vitaly Yerushensky, told Ekho Moskvy radio.
...
In the interview, which Ekho Mosvky said had been granted to Radio Free Europe, she said that the victims, an ethnic Russian and a Chechen, were "rounded up, kidnapped for a time and killed. Their bodies showed signs of serious torture."

More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061008/ap_on_re_eu/russia_journalist_killed

[leftchick]

1. sounds like extraordinary rendition

right out of the US playbook. RIP Anna, you were a very brave woman. :(

[wellst0nev0ter]

2. Look Closely Americans, This Will Soon Become Us.

if the pukes have their way.

[mom cat]

3. Or the puppet masters.

[lonestarnot]

7. I thought the same thing when I heard this.

[Judi Lynn]

4. You'd have to see this flaming insult to our intelligence to believe it

From the article:

Politkovskaya was one of the most persistent critics of Kadyrov's security forces, but she had crossed many powerful people, including in the Russian military, with her investigative reporting and human rights advocacy.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States was shocked and profoundly saddened by the murder of a journalist who devoted much of her career to "shining a light on human rights abuses and other atrocities of the war in Chechnya" and the plight of Chechen refugees.

Oh, you bet!

This may seem oddly familiar:

Politkovskaya had come under threat repeatedly. In 2004, she fell seriously ill with symptoms of food poisoning after drinking tea on a flight from Moscow to southern Russia during the school hostage crisis in Beslan. Her colleagues suspected the incident was an attempt on her life.
(snip)

Do you remember only last week two outspoken _Bush critics in the military, two generals, paid a visit to a restaurant in Washington, D.C. and strangely enough were the ONLY restaurant patrons to get FOOD POISONING immediately?

May Anna Politkovskaya rest in peace, and her stories attract a far, far larger audience after her death than she would have ever imagined.



Anna Politkovskaya

[jobycom]

5. Putin--Bush's soul mate.

"The execution-style killing underlined the increasingly dangerous environment for journalists working in Russia since President
Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000, launching a crackdown on media freedoms. Her death brings to at least 13 the number of journalists killed in contract-style killings in the past six years, according to the New-York based Committee to Protect Journalists."

[Joe Chi Minh]

6. Those crazy Russkys! See anything bizarre about this?

"'I assure you that investigators and our colleagues from the Interior Ministry will do everything to ensure that the killers of Anna Politkovskaya, the perpetrators as well as those who ordered it, are found soon,' she said in comments broadcast on state television."

Where else in the world would the authorities reassure the public, not only that the guy who pointed the gun would be brought to book, but also the guy who pulled the trigger! Not only the big guy who gave the order, but the little guy who did his lethal bidding, as well! Instead of the other way round, as in the US or UK! Cep' it's only ever the little guy in our countries, if at all!

I'm not praising the authorities, but rather the Russian people for instilling the need for this priority in their leaders. Reassuring them, furthermore, that they won't be satisfied with nailing Mr Big