Makarov pistol and four empty cartridges.
Posted on 10/07/2006 2:01:00 PM PDT by Pharmboy
Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead on Saturday at her apartment block in central Moscow, police said.
"According to initial information she was killed by two shots when leaving the lift. Neighbors found her body," a police source told Reuters. Police found a pistol and four rounds in the lift.
Politkovskaya, a 48-year-old mother of two, won international fame and numerous prizes for her dogged pursuit of rights abuses by Putin's government, particularly in the violent southern province of Chechnya.
"The first thing that comes to mind is that Anna was killed for her professional activities. We don't see any other motive for this terrible crime," said Vitaly Yaroshevsky, a deputy editor of the newspaper where Politkovskaya worked.
Moscow chief prosecutor Yuri Syomin told reporters at the crime scene, a nine-story Soviet-era apartment building in central Moscow, that he was treating the death as murder.
Paramedics took Politkovskaya's body, wrapped in a white sheet, out of the building and put it into an ambulance. A middle-aged woman laid flowers at the doors of the building and stood with her head against the wall, crying.
Politkovskaya's silver Lada, filled with supermarket shopping bags, was parked outside the apartment block.
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, a shareholder in Politkovskaya's newspaper Novaya Gazeta, called the killing a "savage crime."
"It is a blow to the entire democratic, independent press," Gorbachev told Interfax news agency. "It is a grave crime against the country, against all of us."
In the days before her death, Politkovskaya had been working on a story about torture in Chechnya, which was expected to be published on Monday, her newspaper said.
DISTRUSTED PUTIN
The rebel province has been a constant headache for the Kremlin. Russia sent troops in 1994 to crush an insurgency but after 12 years of bloodshed and the devastation of the province's capital Grozny, sporadic attacks continue.
Politkovskaya was a fierce critic of Putin, whom she accused of stifling freedom and failing to shake off his past as a KGB agent.
"I dislike him for ... his cynicism, for his racism, for his lies ... for the massacre of the innocents which went on throughout his first term as president," she wrote in her book "Putin's Russia" which was published overseas but not in Russia.
Her death came on the day Putin turned 54.
In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists described Politkovskaya's murder as a "devastating development for journalism in Russia."
There are few independent voices in Russian media, most of it controlled by the state or business interests. Newspapers such as Novaya Gazeta, popular with Russian liberals and human rights activists, are rare, especially outside the big cities and tend to have a small circulation.
"Ms. Politkovskaya's murder signals a major crisis of free expression and journalistic safety in Russia," said Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.
Rights group Amnesty International said in a statement it believed Politkovskaya was targeted because she reported on rights abuses in Russia and urged a thorough murder probe.
Born to Soviet Ukrainian diplomats in New York in 1958, Politkovskaya studied journalism at Moscow's State University and began her career in state media.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union she began working at the independent media which began to flourish under Gorbachev.
Politkovskaya's war reporting often meant she was under scrutiny by Russian politicians and, sometimes, the security services. She had been arrested and held in a pit for three days in Chechnya and received numerous death threats.
She said she was unable to cover the bloody siege of a school at Beslan in 2004 -- in which more than 330 children and parents died when troops stormed the school -- because she was poisoned on the flight from Moscow and ended up in hospital.
Her murder is the most high-profile killing of a journalist here since the death of U.S. journalist Paul Klebnikov in 2004.
Last month, gunmen shot and killed senior Russian central banker Andrei Kozlov in one of the most high profile contract killings since Putin came to power in 2000.
(Additional reporting by Robin Paxton, Tatyana Ustinova in Moscow and Bill Trott in Washington)
Insurance ... this is the country that spawned Rasputin as well.
Thanks Kronos, you really cleared it up----as a reply to my #58, you post back to me MOSTLY IN RUSSIAN. Oddly enough most everyone else on this thread seems to have no trouble in understanding you.So "it must be me."
Makarov pistol and four empty cartridges.
Have you seen CHILDREN OF BESLAN, the HBO documentary that has been shown recently? There is no way of escaping coming out firmly AGAINST the bloodthirsty brutality of the Islamic "rebels", but you walk away from the film having virtually NO sympathy for the Russian side either.
It is probably the most troubling and brutally honest film of its kind ever made. It is just very very sad to realize how inevitable that tragedy was when both sides had been so intransigent for so long.
Your post seems to suggest that Chechens (the people & nation) have no right to exist apart from their would-be conquerers. They are no more Russian than Hungarians are; arguably less.
Xa, Xa! Ya slovensko, i nemets, i ochen menya sovut angliskii! Ex!
But how did you write in kirilitsa on this post? Must be careful, Admin Moderator KGB will pull threads not in English. Moe russki, iz Uzbekistana (deployed US soldier).
Zdravstvui!
I won't shed a tear or lose any sleep over this woman's death.
Also I am very disappointed in Putin. He should have leveled a few chechnyan cities by now.
Leave the gun - take the Cannoli. Peter Clemenza
Hi. here is how you use Cyrilic letters.
Hi. Im using PC and Windows XP.
On right side of taskbar (bottom bar) zou have selected languages, if zou are using English "EN" appears. Rightclick "EN" and select "Additional icons in taskbar" and than "Settings". Choose "Add" button and from list you choose any language. You have Russian, macedonian and Serbian Cyrilics...
Thats all"
When you want to use and during eriting change between languages, just leftclick in taskbar selected language and list will apear of those you have previously choosen and select desiered language.
:)
 |
"Harrassment? It's not harrassment until I toss her into a pool . . ." |
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leaving the gun at the scene, with no mention of robbery, sends a pretty clear message, whether it is the intended message or not.
Not too much like Kirov. He was Stalin's main rival, so uncle joe had him offed. This woman was apparently a muslim sympathiser who PO'd a lot of people in high places.
And one message would be: we can leave untraceable firearms at the scene of the crime. We're powerful.
leaving the gun at the scene, with no mention of robbery, sends a pretty clear message, whether it is the intended message or not.===
Exactly.
You can express your condolences here: ==
I'm for one won't miss her or express no condolences. I remember how she slandered Russia on the US congress hearings. I saw it myself on C-SPAN. It was the shame. She not only slandered Russia but disriented US congressmen.
I respect such jornalists as Paul Khlebnikov whom I missed.
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Whoops, registering complete failure to care. Please try again later.
Aleksandr Usachev:
Who is behind this and the earlier murders?
Who wishes to stand with one foot in Europe, and with the other leg kick the objectionables in the rear and tries to keep his balance in the process?
Who is next?
Who will be the last?
God grant that the last victim of this undeclared war on the truth is Anna Politkovskaya...
Eternal is her memory, and condolences to her loved ones.
Serg:
It seems to me that we are living in '1984' of George Orwell, or during the time of the inquisition. If they are killing journalists, it means they are afraid of their words, and seriously afraid. But why do why allow ourselves to be silent? To kill a lot of people is more difficult.
I kneel down before Anna Politkovskaya, such honest and fearless people are unfortunately very few.
Sergey, Krasnodar
MTV:
They have extinguished yet another ray of light in this dark empire.
Mihail:
Thank you, for the truth! For freedom! For the example!
You are a hero!
Rest in peace.
Mihail Bogomolov:
Anna Stepanovna, forgive us! But we do not say 'farewell!' You remain with us, as one of the few people who didn't just look upon the government scum, but called them exactly what they deserved: scum.
Don't say with sorrow: 'They are gone!' But with gratitude: 'They were!'
Yurii:
SUCH news from Russia already doesn't suprise us, we all felt the sharp pain when we knew of Anna Politkovskaya's death. There are fewer and fewer people who aren't afraid to 'take to the streets', and Politkovskaya was the brightest light among them.
Marina:
It's hard to be an honest person in a bandit land...
Lev:
She gave us all strength...
Olga:
My tears choke me, it's hard to write, such an honest person, so close to my heart.
These reptiles are killing the last people, hoping that a society of beasts remains. They hope to frighten everyone, to make us stop thinking. Let the earth be your pillow, Lord protect her bright spirit, Amen.
Sergey:
Today Russia has no conscience. They killed it.
We mourn with you!
Government of force, stupid government, without brains,
Do you think that dying in her flower of life
She leaves, that the country is all like a prison,
Not ruled by law, but by a pistol?
But a bullet is a weak argument,
Obviously the truth is simple, like two times two:
Though Anna Politkovskaya is no more,
Her Novaya Gazeta is alive!
A.N. Kapitonov
Vika:
They feared her!!! The men revealed by authority and money! Fear this, you cowards, Anna from the skies will reveal all your meannesses, from there even more easily... But they did not count on one thing, yes, we were shaken by this murder, but we were not lost, we didn't scatter, we balled up our fists. If this brittle woman could resist this steam roller, this evil, then I can. Glory to you Anna, the fearless hero! You have it much better up there in heaven, than we do here in Russian, you have much more pleasant company. We remember everything, and this means that you live on, and evil will fall upon all the killers!
Glory to you, hero!
Good bye, my friend, good bye.
My dear one, you are inside my breast.
This predestined parting,
Promises a reunion ahead.
Good bye, my friend, without a handshake, without a word,
Do not get sad or furrow your brow,
Dying is nothing new in this life,
But living, of course, isn't novel either.
(S. Yesenin, ‹1925›)
Bela:
Dear Anna,
Thank you, for loudly saying what many feared to think,
Thank you, for going ahead, when many lagged behind,
Thank you, for trying to save the innocent who were condemned,
Thank you, for treasuring human life so,
Thank you, for telling us the truth,
Thank you, for your life,
Thank you,
A bright memory of you.
Kira:
Sincerest condolences, I am crying... as if one of my own had died. Maybe I can say that it is so. Anna was at 'Nord-Ost', there where my closest person in the world was, ... Her whole life she tried to help those who had it bad. I always trusted her. Eternal is her memory...
Svetlana:
Bitter. Unmeasurable sadness. Shame for our nation, for all of us. Anna Politkovskaya was fearless. Her readers feared for her. It happened anyway. How THEY master us! How we allowed THEM to master us!
Thank you, Anna! All these years you showed us how we should live. Thank you, and forgive us.
Balakar:
99% corruption, 99% stupidity, 99% lies and meanness, and 1 % honest people. They are shooting and forcing out of the country the last of this percent. My condolences to all those close to Anna. And I'm very sorry for myself and my children.
Leonid:
Shame and fear for the country in which I was once born. Judging for everything, anything goes, and it's a frighteningly long time until the dawn. Hang in there, like Anna hung in there, and don't lose hope, we are with you. Let the earth be your pillow!"
(October 7th, 2006, in memory of Anna Politkovskaya)
Don't listen for her respiration, and don't summon the physicians -
Her soul already walks barefoot along the celestial lawn.
God takes away the good by the hands of bastards.
Idle neighbors stare out from their windows.
What is it to her, spending time in spite with praise and disparagement?
She is already away from this bloody suffering.
The quivering reflection of a candle is like a halo overhead.
And the next on the list places flowers on her coffin.
Viktor Kagan
My apologies, I'll go away now.
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