64-562: Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya ( née Mazepa ; 30 August 1958 – 7 October 2006) was a Russian investigative journalist who reported on political and social events in Russia, in particular, the Second Chechen War (1999–2005). It was her reporting from Chechnya that made her national and international reputation. For seven years, she refused to give up reporting on the war despite numerous acts of intimidation and violence. Politkovskaya
128-577: A man's surname at birth that has subsequently been replaced or changed. The diacritic mark (the acute accent ) over the e is considered significant to its spelling, and ultimately its meaning, but is sometimes omitted. According to Oxford University 's Dictionary of Modern English Usage , the terms are typically placed after the current surname (e.g., " Margaret Thatcher , née Roberts" or " Bill Clinton , né Blythe"). Since they are terms adopted into English (from French), they do not have to be italicized , but they often are. In Polish tradition ,
192-479: A mock execution after being arrested by the military in Chechnya. Early in 2001, Politkovskaya was detained by military officials in the southern mountain village of Khattuni . She was investigating complaints from 90 Chechen families about "punitive raids" by federal forces. She interviewed a Chechen grandmother from the village of Tovzeni, Rosita, who endured 12 days of beatings, electric shocks , and confinement in
256-620: A Chechen civilian detainee, the case exposed by Politkovskaya in her article "Disappearing People". A former fellow officer of Lapin's was among the suspects in Politkovskaya's murder, on the theory that the motive might have been revenge for her part in Lapin's conviction. In 2004, Politkovskaya had a conversation with Ramzan Kadyrov , then Prime Minister of Chechnya. One of his assistants said to her, "Someone ought to have shot you back in Moscow, right on
320-476: A December 2005 conference on the freedom of the press in Vienna organized by Reporters Without Borders , she said "People sometimes pay with their lives for saying aloud what they think. In fact, one can even get killed for giving me information. I am not the only one in danger. I have examples that prove it." She often received death threats as a result of her work, including being threatened with rape and experiencing
384-488: A broader account of her views and experiences after former KGB lieutenant colonel Vladimir Putin became Boris Yeltsin 's Prime Minister, and then succeeded him as President of Russia. This included Putin's pursuit of the Second Chechen War . In the book, she accused the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) of stifling all civil liberties to establish a Soviet-style dictatorship, but admitted: [It]
448-449: A high security penal colony. In May 2014, five men were convicted of murdering Politkovskaya, including three defendants who had been acquitted in a previous trial. The defendants were three Chechen brothers, one of whom was accused of shooting Politkovskaya in the lobby of her Moscow apartment building. In June 2014 the men were sentenced to prison, two of them, Lom-Ali Gaitukayev and his nephew Rustam Makhmudov, receiving life sentences. It
512-476: A jury (a rare occurrence in Russia) and, after the jurors insisted, was open to the press and public. On 25 November 2008, it was reported that Politkovskaya's murder might have been ordered by a politician inside Russia. Murad Musayev, a lawyer for the men on trial, told journalists that the case notes—as one of the interpretations of the crime—mentioned that a politician, based in Russia (but not named in those notes),
576-502: A large posthumous collection of Anna's articles, entitled With Good Reason , was published by Novaya Gazeta and launched at the Gorbachev Foundation in Moscow. The event came soon after the birth of Anna's namesake grandchild: Vera's daughter was named Anna in honor of her grandmother. A few months later, 10 men were detained on suspicion of various degrees of involvement in Politkovskaya's murder. Four of them were brought before
640-460: A note to the book. "Who killed Anna and who lay beyond her killer remains unknown", wrote Jon Snow , the main news anchor for the United Kingdom's Channel 4 in his foreword to the book's UK edition. "Her murder robbed too many of us of absolutely vital sources of information and contact", he concluded, "Yet it may, ultimately, be seen to have at least helped prepare the way for the unmasking of
704-545: A pit. The men who arrested Rosita presented themselves as FSB-employees. The torturers requested a ransom from Rosita's relatives, who negotiated a smaller amount that they were able to pay. Another interviewee described killings and rapes of Chechen men in a "concentration camp with a commercial streak" near the village of Khattuni. Upon leaving the camp, Politkovskaya was detained, interrogated, beaten, and humiliated: "The young officers tortured me, skillfully hitting my sore-spots. They looked through my children's pictures, making
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#1732894096318768-462: A point of saying what they would like to do to the kids. This went on for about three hours." She was subjected to a mock execution using a BM-21 Grad multiple-launch rocket system , then poisoned with a cup of tea that made her vomit. Her tape-records were confiscated. She described her mock execution: A lieutenant colonel with a swarthy face and dull dark bulging eyes said in a businesslike tone: "Let's go. I'm going to shoot you." He led me out of
832-501: A thesis about the poetry of Marina Tsvetaeva . The faculty head at the time was Yasen Zasurskii [ ru ] , a close friend of the Mazepas and their frequent guest in New York. She married fellow student Alexander Politkovsky in 1978; by 1981 they had two children, Ilya and Vera. At first Alexander was better known, joining TV journalist Vladislav Listyev as one of the hosts on
896-447: A top-secret document released by Edward Snowden with a screenshot of Intellipedia according to which: Birth name#Maiden and married names A birth name is the name given to a person upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname , the given name , or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth register may by that fact alone become
960-552: Is still unclear who ordered or paid for the contract killing. In September 2016, Vladimir Markin , official spokesman for the Investigative Committee, included the killing of Anna Politkovskaya among the Most Dramatic Crimes in 21st century Russia and claimed that it had been solved. Her colleagues at Novaya gazeta protested that until the instigator or sponsor of the crime was identified, arrested and prosecuted
1024-416: Is the feminine past participle of naître , which means "to be born". Né is the masculine form. The term née , having feminine grammatical gender , can be used to denote a woman's surname at birth that has been replaced or changed. In most English-speaking cultures, it is specifically applied to a woman's maiden name after her surname has changed due to marriage. The term né can be used to denote
1088-560: Is the internet, where information is still freely available. For the rest, if you want to go on working as a journalist, it's total servility to Putin. Otherwise, it can be death, the bullet, poison, or trial—whatever our special services, Putin's guard dogs, see fit. "People often tell me that I am a pessimist, that I don't believe in the strength of the Russian people, that I am obsessive in my opposition to Putin and see nothing beyond that", she opens an essay titled "Am I Afraid?", finishing it—and
1152-535: Is we who are responsible for Putin's policies ... [s]ociety has shown limitless apathy ... [a]s the Chekists have become entrenched in power, we have let them see our fear, and thereby have only intensified their urge to treat us like cattle. The KGB respects only the strong. The weak it devours. We of all people ought to know that. She also wrote: We are hurtling back into a Soviet abyss, into an information vacuum that spells death from our own ignorance. All we have left
1216-678: The Beslan school hostage crisis erupted in the North Caucasus in early September 2004, Politkovskaya attempted to fly there to act as a mediator, but was taken off the plane, acutely ill due to an attempted poisoning, in Rostov-on-Don (see #Poisoning ). In Moscow, Politkovskaya was not invited to press-conferences or gatherings that Kremlin officials might attend, in case the organizers were suspected of harboring sympathies toward her. Despite this, many top officials allegedly talked to her when she
1280-592: The Khrushchev era . He became a founding member of the Special Committee against Apartheid in 1962, and served as its secretary as late as 1974. Her parents bought an apartment in central Moscow in 1962 and Politkovskaya mostly grew up there. She attended a music school and trained figure skating ; according to her mother, she was noted for her frequent use of the local Krupskaya Library. She graduated from Moscow State University 's school of journalism in 1980 with
1344-529: The Moscow District Military Court in October 2008. Three men were charged with directly aiding Politkovskaya's killer, who was allegedly the brother of two of the suspects. There was insufficient evidence to charge the fourth man—an FSB colonel—with the murder, though he was suspected of a leading role in its organization; he stood trial at the same time for another offence. The case was held before
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#17328940963181408-619: The September 11 attacks on the United States, welcomed Putin's contribution to their " War on Terror ". She talked to officials, the military and the police and also frequently visited hospitals and refugee camps in Chechnya and in neighboring Ingushetia to interview those injured and uprooted by the renewed fighting. In numerous articles critical of the war in Chechnya and the pro-Russian regime there, Politkovskaya described alleged abuses committed by Russian military forces, Chechen rebels, and
1472-515: The St Petersburg publishing house Paritet, founded in 1992. Politkovskaya's career took off with the decline of her husband's influence following the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis . From 1994 to 1999, she worked as the assistant chief editor of Obshchaya Gazeta [ ru ] , headed by Yegor Yakovlev , where she wrote frequently about social problems, particularly the plight of refugees. From June 1999 to 2006, she wrote columns for
1536-471: The "Chechen Stalin of our days". Politkovskaya was found dead in the lift, in her block of apartments in central Moscow on 7 October 2006, Putin's birthday. She had been shot twice in the chest, once in the shoulder, and once in the head at close range. There was widespread international reaction to the assassination . The funeral was held on 10 October 2006 at the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery in
1600-642: The Assembly called on the Russian Parliament closely to monitor the progress in the criminal investigations regarding the murder of Anna Politkovskaya and hold the authorities accountable for any failures to investigate or prosecute. The closure of the trial yesterday can only be regarded as a blatant failure. I call on the Russian authorities and Parliament to relaunch a proper investigation and shed light on this murder, which undermines not only freedom of expression in Russia, but also its democratic foundation based on
1664-568: The Belgian police – arrested the man suspected of killing Anna Politkovskaya, after he was detained in the Chechen Republic and transported to Moscow for questioning. After all three men were acquitted of Politkovskaya's murder in February 2009, her children Vera and Ilya, their lawyers Karinna Moskalenko and Anna Stavitskaya , and senior Novaya Gazeta editor Sergei Sokolov gave their reaction to
1728-559: The Russian lieutenant colonel said to her: "Here's the banya . Take off your clothes." Seeing that his words had no effect, he got very angry: "A real lieutenant colonel is courting you, and you say no, you militant bitch." In 2006, the European Court of Human Rights found the Russian Federation responsible for the forced disappearance of a suspected Ingush militant, Khadzhi-Murat Yandiyev . Colonel-General Alexander Baranov ,
1792-508: The Russian-backed administration led by Akhmad Kadyrov and his son Ramzan Kadyrov . She also chronicled human rights abuses and policy failures elsewhere in the North Caucasus . In one characteristic instance in 1999, she not only wrote about the plight of an ethnically-mixed old peoples' home under bombardment in Grozny , but helped to secure the safe evacuation of its elderly inhabitants with
1856-502: The aid of her newspaper and public support. Her articles, many of which form the basis of A Dirty War (2001) and A Small Corner of Hell (2003), depict a conflict that brutalized both Chechen fighters and conscript soldiers in the federal army, and created hell for the civilians caught between them. As Politkovskaya reported, the order supposedly restored under the Kadyrovs became a regime of endemic torture, abduction, and murder, by either
1920-437: The biweekly Novaya Gazeta , a newspaper with strong investigative reporting that was critical of the new post-Soviet regime from the outset. She published several award-winning books about Chechnya , life in Russia, and Russia under Vladimir Putin , including Putin's Russia . Politkovskaya won awards for her work. She used each of these occasions to urge greater concern and responsibility by Western governments that, after
1984-406: The book gives her account of the period from December 2003 to August 2005, including what she described as "the death of Russian parliamentary democracy", the Beslan school hostage crisis , and the "winter and summer of discontent" from January to August 2005. Because she was murdered "while translation was being completed, final editing had to go ahead without her help", wrote translator Arch Tait in
Anna Politkovskaya - Misplaced Pages Continue
2048-482: The book—with the words "If anybody thinks they can take comfort from the 'optimistic' forecast, let them do so. It is certainly the easier way, but it is the death sentence for our grandchildren." In May 2007, Random House posthumously published Politkovskaya's A Russian Diary , containing extracts from her notebook and other writings. Subtitled A Journalist's Final Account of Life, Corruption, and Death in Putin's Russia ,
2112-510: The case was not closed. On 7 October 2016, Novaya gazeta released a video clip of its editors, correspondents, photographers and technical and administrative staff holding text-boards giving details of the case and stating, repeatedly, "The sponsor of Anna's murder has not been found". On the same day deputy chief editor Sergei Sokolov published a damning summary of the official investigation, describing its false turns and shortcomings, and emphasized that it had now effectively been wound up. After
2176-692: The commander of the Russian Caucasus deployment mentioned by Politkovskaya's camp guide as the one who ordered captured militants to be kept in the pits, was filmed as he ordered Yandiyev to be executed. While flying south in September 2004 to help negotiate with those who had taken over a thousand hostages in a school in Beslan (North Ossetia), Politkovskaya fell violently ill and lost consciousness after drinking tea given to her by an Aeroflot flight attendant. She had reportedly been poisoned , with some accusing
2240-631: The country and observe Russian society. She was privy to developments in the media sphere through her husband, "Russia's number one television journalist" from 1987 onwards, and shared his political interests. In the 1990 film about the Politkovsky family, she was portrayed as her husband's "assistant". By the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, she experienced threats against their family, which forced her teenage son's exile in London in 1992. She
2304-459: The dark forces at the heart of Russia's current being. I must confess that I finished reading A Russian Diary feeling that it should be taken up and dropped from the air in vast quantities throughout the length and breadth of Mother Russia, for all her people to read." Politkovskaya was closely involved in attempts to negotiate the release of hostages in the Moscow theatre hostage crisis of 2002. When
2368-436: The former Soviet secret police poison facility . In 2001, Politkovskaya fled to Vienna , following e-mail threats that a police officer whom she had accused of atrocities against civilians in Chechnya was looking to take revenge. Corporal Sergey Lapin was arrested and charged in 2002, but the case against him was closed the following year. In 2005, Lapin was convicted and jailed for the torture and subsequent disappearance of
2432-510: The late-night TV-program Vzglyad . Apart from her childhood years, Politkovskaya spent no more than a few weeks outside Russia at any one time, even when her life came under threat. She was a U.S. citizen and had a U.S. passport, although she never relinquished her Russian citizenship. Politkovskaya's initial employment was with Izvestia , the organ of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union , in 1982. According to her ex-husband in 2011, it
2496-584: The madwoman of Moscow. I find it disgusting to live this way. I would like a bit more understanding. After Politkovskaya's murder, Vyacheslav Izmailov, her colleague at Novaya Gazeta – a military man who had helped negotiate the release of dozens of hostages in Chechnya before 1999 – said that he knew of at least nine previous occasions when Politkovskaya had faced death, commenting "Frontline-soldiers do not usually go into battle so often and survive". Politkovskaya herself did not deny being afraid, but felt responsible and concerned for her informants. While attending
2560-455: The new Chechen authorities or the various federal forces based in Chechnya. One of her last investigations was into the alleged mass poisoning of Chechen schoolchildren by a strong and unknown chemical substance which incapacitated them for many months. After Politkovskaya became widely known in the West, she was commissioned to write Putin's Russia (later subtitled Life in a Failing Democracy ),
2624-399: The outskirts of Moscow. Before Politkovskaya was buried, more than one thousand mourners filed past her coffin to pay their last respects. Dozens of Politkovskaya's colleagues, public figures, and admirers of her work gathered at the cemetery. No high-ranking Russian officials could be seen at the ceremony. Politkovskaya was buried near her father, who had died shortly before her. In May 2007,
Anna Politkovskaya - Misplaced Pages Continue
2688-555: The person's legal name . The assumption in the Western world is often that the name from birth (or perhaps from baptism or brit milah ) will persist to adulthood in the normal course of affairs—either throughout life or until marriage. Some reasons for changes of a person's name include middle names , diminutive forms, changes relating to parental status (due to one's parents' divorce or adoption by different parents), and gender transition . The French and English-adopted née
2752-479: The poisoning, the arrests, the threats in letters and over the Internet, the telephoned death threats, the weekly summons to the prosecutor general's office to sign statements about practically every article I write (the first question being, "How and where did you obtain this information?"). Of course I don't like the constant derisive articles about me that appear in other newspapers and on Internet sites presenting me as
2816-399: The program’s strong side wasn’t the hosts but the guests. He once said in an interview that Vzglyad is not only a story because it influenced the government’s decision-making process. For example, for the first time the first legal Soviet millionaire Artyom Tarasov was shown to public within the walls of Vzglyad ' s studio. A discussion of high prices for party membership cards let to
2880-449: The rule of law. There are no excuses for these flawed investigations into murders of politically critical journalists writing against corruption and crime within government, such as the murders of Georgy Gongadze in Ukraine in 2000 and Paul Klebnikov in Moscow in 2004. Before the trial ended, Stanislav Markelov , a lawyer who had investigated many of the abuses documented by Politkovskaya,
2944-648: The spell at Izvestia she soon held another internship at the Vozdushnyi transport ( Воздушный транспорт , the in-house magazine of the Ministry of Civil Aviation ), as a reporter and editor of the Aeroflot emergencies and accidents section. As recalled by Politkovsky, her first travel assignment was on the plane crash in Omsk (1984). The correspondent role came with an unlimited air ticket, which enabled her to travel widely across
3008-459: The street, like they do in your Moscow". Kadyrov echoed him: "You're an enemy. To be shot...." On the day of her murder, said Novaya Gazeta ' s chief editor Dmitry Muratov, Politkovskaya had planned to file a lengthy story on the torture practices believed to be used by the Chechen security detachments known as Kadyrovites . In her final interview, she described Kadyrov—now president of Chechnya—as
3072-411: The tent into complete darkness. The nights here are impenetrable. After we walked for a while, he said, "Ready or not, here I come." Something burst with pulsating fire around me, screeching, roaring, and growling. The lieutenant colonel was very happy when I crouched in fright. It turned out that he had led me right under the "Grad" rocket launcher at the moment it was fired. After the mock execution ,
3136-448: The term z domu (literally meaning "of the house", de domo in Latin ) may be used, with rare exceptions, meaning the same as née . Vzglyad (TV program) Vzglyad (Russian: Взгляд , lit. 'Outlook') was a popular Russian TV program, officially broadcast from 2 October 1987 to April 2001. It was one of the first programs that changed Russian notions on television. It
3200-430: The three Makhmudov brothers, Khadjikurbanov and Lom-Ali Gaitukayev were convicted in 2014, wrote Sokolov, the once large team of investigators was reduced to one person and within a year he retired, to be replaced by a lower-ranking investigator. The 2000 killing of Igor Domnikov , another Novaya gazeta journalist, showed that the perpetrators might be identified (they were convicted in 2008). The Intercept published
3264-604: The trial at a press conference in Moscow. In his comments on the end of the trial, Andrew McIntosh , Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 's Sub-Committee on the Media and Rapporteur on media freedom, expressed frustration at what he perceived to be a lack of progress in investigating the murder, or the inability of the Russian authorities to find her killers: Two years ago, in its Resolution 1535 (2007),
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#17328940963183328-729: Was a columnist for the socio-political newspaper Megapolis-Express [ ru ] , founded in 1990, before it turned into a tabloid serving fake news in September 1994. She was professionally involved in the creative union Eskart – which by 1991 offered advertising services through its partnership with major media outlets, such as the All-Union Radio , the organ of the Ministry of Railways Gudok [ ru ] , Kuranty [ ru ] , Literaturnaya Gazeta , Moskovskiye Novosti , My [ ru ] , Ogoniok , Oktyabr , Sovetskaya Kultura , Stolitsa [ ru ] , and Trud – and in
3392-481: Was a brief internship in the mailroom and her only journalistic engagement during the 1980s as he failed to assist her career. In her son's words, until the mid-1990s she "wasn't even a journalist, she was a housewife ". Her own later account stated that "Sasha's work ... kept me from doing my own thing". She is said by Politkovsky to have worked temporarily as a cleaner at the Mayakovsky Theatre . However, after
3456-531: Was abducted in Grozny and found dead, several hours later, in the neighboring Republic of Ingushetia . On 5 August 2009, the prosecution service's objection to the acquittals in the Politkovskaya trial was upheld by the Supreme Court, and a new trial was ordered. In August 2011, Russian prosecutors claimed they were close to solving the murder after detaining Dmitry Pavliuchenkov, a former policeman, who they alleged
3520-425: Was also one of the main programs of the television company VID . Vlad Listyev was one of the creators and the first hosts of Vzglyad . Vzglyad became one of the symbols of perestroika . It shook up the late 80’s Soviet public notion of TV broadcasting and journalism in general. The program showed young hosts wearing informal clothing, live broadcasting and used popular music videos as music breaks. All of that
3584-458: Was arrested by Russian military forces in Chechnya and subjected to a mock execution . She was poisoned while flying from Moscow via Rostov-on-Don to help resolve the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis , and had to turn back, requiring careful medical treatment in Moscow to restore her health. Her post-1999 articles about conditions in Chechnya were turned into books several times; Russian readers' main access to her investigations and publications
3648-480: Was assassinated in Moscow on 19 January 2009. Journalist Anastasia Baburova , who was with Markelov at the time, died later of injuries sustained while trying to intervene. More closely related to Politkovskaya's work as a journalist was 15 July 2009 murder of Natalia Estemirova . A board member of the Memorial human rights society and one of Politkovskaya's key informants, guides, and colleagues in Chechnya, Estemirova
3712-504: Was behind her death. On 5 December 2008, Sergei Sokolov, a senior editor of Novaya Gazeta , testified in court that he had received information (from sources he would not name) that defendant Dzhabrail Makhmudov was an agent of the FSB. He said Makhmudov's uncle Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, who was serving a 12-year jail sentence for the attempted murder of a Ukrainian businessman, also worked for the FSB. Russia's Investigative Committee – with help from
3776-488: Was completely opposite to what an average Soviet viewer had been used to—strictly rehearsed and censured programs . Vzglyad was widely known and discussed by society and media. It was especially popular among urban youth who represented the interests of the new generation, a generation that wanted change. Usually, hosts invited guests, such as popular political figures or celebrities, and discussed present-day social issues. Russian journalist Vladimir Mukusev emphasized that
3840-677: Was ethnically Ukrainian and had attended a Ukrainian-language school in Chernihiv before the 1941 Nazi invasion of the USSR . He met her mother at a Russian-language night school in Kerch after the war while serving in the fleet . By 1952, her father was admitted to study at an institute in Moscow, and her parents married there. Her father was appointed to the Ukrainian delegation at the United Nations during
3904-697: Was murdered in the elevator of her block of apartments, an assassination that attracted international attention . In 2014, five men were sentenced to prison for the murder, but it is still unclear who ordered or paid for the contract killing . Anna Mazepa Politkovskaya was born in New York City in 1958, the daughter of Ukrainian Soviet diplomats at the United Nations , Stepan Fedorovich Mazepa (1927–2006) from Kostobobriv , Ukraine, and Raisa Aleksandrovna née Novikova (1929–2021) from Kerch in Crimea . Her father
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#17328940963183968-421: Was the principal organizer. The following month Kommersant Daily reported that, according to Pavlyuchenkov, Lom-Ali Gaitukayev was the one negotiating with the person who ordered the killing, and although Pavlyuchenkov did not know the name, he suspected he could be the fugitive businessman and Putin critic Boris Berezovsky . In December 2012, Dmitry Pavliutchenkov was found guilty and sentenced to 11 years in
4032-407: Was through Novaya Gazeta , a Russian newspaper that featured critical investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs. From 2000 onwards, she received numerous international awards for her work. In 2004, she published Putin's Russia , a personal account of Russia for a Western readership. On 7 October 2006 (notably, on the 54th birthday of Russian president Vladimir Putin ), she
4096-450: Was writing articles or conducting investigations. According to one of her articles, they did talk to her, "but only when they weren't likely to be observed: outside in crowds, or in houses that they approached by different routes, like spies". She also claimed that the Kremlin tried to block her access to information and discredit her: I will not go into the other joys of the path I have chosen,
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