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A defendant in the ongoing murder trial of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot and wounded in the center of Moscow on Wednesday evening, his lawyer said. Dzhabrail Makhmudov, who is currently on trial accused of involvement in the 2006 shooting death of Politkovskaya, was taken to a hospital and operated on, his lawyer Murad Musayev wrote on Facebook on Thursday. “The bullet hit Dzhabrail Makhmudov in the left thigh and passed through [his leg] just millimeters from his femoral artery. The doctors say Dzhabrail was ‘unbelievably lucky:’ Just a fraction of a difference in the bullet’s trajectory could...

On New Year’s Day in 1988, Abdullah Ali, an Iraqi businessman who had been living in London for eight years, joined three compatriots for dinner at a restaurant called Cleopatra in Notting Hill.The next morning, he was taken ill with flu-like symptoms and was admitted to hospital. There his condition rapidly deteriorated — his hair fell out, he developed excruciating skin and joint pain, and paralysis and respiratory failure began to set in. Fifteen days later he was dead — but not before he had begun to wonder whether something had been added to his vodka. He was right: the...

“The language has become smaller by one, diminishing us. Now your words, like the feathers of dead birds, are in dictionaries. In heaven there are a thousand blank pages, pages you never finished...” It is almost as if Joseph Brodsky were not eulogizing W.H. Auden, but Anya. How many years have we been without Anna Politkovskaya... 2, 3, 4, 5? Yes, five years already. Still, strange as it sounds, in the early years it seemed easier than it is now. Back then, along with the pain, many still clenched their fists and were still courageous. But then there was the...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxPAdmlZCHI&feature=player_embedded

MOSCOW: A Moscow jury ruled unanimously on Thursday to acquit three men in the 2006 murder of the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, frustrating state prosecutors' hopes of putting to rest a case that cast a shadow over Vladimir Putin's Russia. Politkovskaya was a strident critic of the Kremlin, and her killing in 2006 underlined the shrinking freedom allowed dissenters in Russian society. Investigators and colleagues concluded that someone had ordered her death to silence her, and some suspected the hand of state officials in the crime. But the three men who were tried on murder charges in a cramped courtroom...

The U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is a little bipartisan body, which currently has six members. All but one, voted to terminate Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to Russia and also wanted to end VOA radio broadcasts to Georgia and Ukraine. Ignoring Congressional warnings, the BBG eliminated Russian radio broadcasts just 12 days before Russia invaded Georgia last August. They still refuse to resume them. One of the BBG members who voted to stop VOA from broadcasting radio to Russia was Senator Biden's former chief of staff, Ted Kaufman, who now helps Biden with his vice presidential campaign....

AN ALLEGED attempt to kill a former Russian spy who defected to Britain was being investigated by police last night. Oleg Gordievsky was admitted to a hospital in Guildford after falling ill in November last year. And yesterday he claimed he had been poisoned with the highly toxic metal thallium in a botched assassination attempt. Gordievsky, a KGB double agent who spied on Russia for British intelligence during the 1980s, claims he was targeted by a Russian assassin who visited him at his safe house in Surrey. The 69-year-old was unconscious for 34 hours after falling ill last year and...

Various theories have circulated regarding who might have murdered the journalist Anna Politkovskaya on October 7, and why. According to these, she was targeted by nationalist extremists, or by Russian military officers that she had named in connection with human rights abuses in Chechnya, or by Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, whose alleged abuses she had chronicled in great detail. Two days after her murder, the website of Politkovskaya’s newspaper, Novaya gazeta, said it was either an act of revenge by Kadyrov or carried out by “those who want suspicions to fall on the current Chechen premier, who, having passed...

The daughter of Anna Politkovskaya, the murdered "Novaya Cazeta's" journalist, is under constant guard. On the day when her mother was shot dead, Vera was sitting in a car parked near the house and could probably see the killer. The available videos have his unclear images, therefore, the only investigation's hope is on Vera, the "Komsomolskaya Pravda" asserts. Anna Politkovskaya's murder investigation is considering three main versions: a vengeance of the militiamen who found themselves, after her publications, in prison or search; a conspiracy of the opponents of Vladimir Putin and Chechen Premier Kadyrov; and also a vengeance of former...

ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA, the 48-year-old woman shot dead in the elevator of her apartment building in Moscow Oct. 7, was not a public official, a member of parliament, or a leader of an opposition party. But in the eyes of many people, the murder of this fearless journalist has become a symbol of the slow death of freedom in Russia -- a death evidenced by many other events large and small. For the past several years, the Russian state under Vladimir Putin has been steadily working to bring the media to heel. In this stifling and intimidating atmosphere, Politkovskaya, a correspondent...

A Russian woman journalist was shot Oct. 7 in her apartment block in central Moscow and therein lies a story with a moral. Anna Politkovskaya, 48, mother of two, was an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin. According to the Reuters obituary, Mrs. Politkovskaya won international fame and numerous prizes for her exposes of rights abuses by Mr. Putin's government. The Moscow chief prosecutor told reporters at the crime scene that he was treating the death as murder. Her murder came on the day Putin celebrated his 54th birthday.

Have you ever heard of Anna Politkovskaya? She was a Russian journalist who regularly reported on Vladimir Putin's undermining of press and other freedoms in Russia. This past weekend she was murdered. If you are debating whether to be optimistic or pessimistic about humanity's future, here is a point to consider: In every generation, especially in the last century, vast numbers of good people -- often the best people -- have been murdered by the worst people. Think about all the decent (and, of course, some indecent) people Stalin murdered among his 20 million to 30 million victims. Think about...

Novaya Gazeta newspaper reporter Anna Politkovskaya was shot from an Izh gun and not from Makarov pistol; Kommersant informs. Murder used the Izh with silencer; that is why; Politkovskaya’s neighbors did not hear reports. The murder fired point-blank three times: two times deadly on her heart and the third time on her shoulder. The fourth shot, made at head of the already dead woman, was a control one. The murder threw his pistol, whose serial number was filed down, near the victim’s body. As RG newspaper stresses, version, according to which the journalist was killed from another weapon and the...

Poland calls for severe punishment of Russian journalist's killers WARSAW, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Polish foreign ministry on Sunday called for severe punishment of the killers of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the PAP news agency reported. "We hope Russia metes out severe punishment to Anna Politkovskaya's killers," Polish foreign ministry spokesman Andrzej Sados said in response to the slaying of Politkovskaya on Saturday in Moscow. Politkovskaya, 48, a Russian investigative journalist known for her critical coverage of the war in Chechnya, was found dead on Saturday in the elevator of her Moscow apartment. She had two gunshot wounds, one...

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...

Anna Politkovskaya, the famous journalist and political commentator from Novaya Gazeta was killed in Moscow. This was reported by Novaya Gazeta's chief editor Dmitri Muratov to the radio station Echo of Moscow. The murder occurred around 5 in the evening on Lesnaya Street, where Politkovskaya lived. An unknown man in dark clothing shot her with a pistol. A police source reported to Interfax that a neighbor of the journalist found her body in the elevator. Police also found a discarded Makarov pistol and four empty cartridges. Politkovskaya's home is now cordoned off by the police, reported ITAR-TASS. The police are...

Russian Journalist Politkovskaya Found Dead October 7, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Moscow police say prominent Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, known for her critical coverage of the war in Chechnya, was killed today in the capital. Moscow police said Politkovskaya's body was found in an elevator in the apartment building where she was living in the city center. The Interfax news agency quoted police officials as saying a pistol and four bullets were found in the elevator. Politkovskaya was respected for her critical, in-depth coverage of the Russian government's campaign in Chechnya. In 2004, she fell seriously ill with symptoms of food...

The Russian leader’s journalistic nemesis, Anna Polikovskaya, reveals the brutal truth about her country todayOver the greater part of Russia, October sees the beginning of the winter frosts. This year it also finds the country in the leaden grip of a seemingly endless process of mourning. Last week saw the 40th day of our remembrance of those who died at Beslan. The second anniversary of the Nord-Ost tragedy, when many died after a siege at a Moscow theatre, will fall on October 23-26. In the middle of that anniversary, on October 24, it will be two months since two women,...

I would like to summon up my courage and declare that, of all the participants in this discussion, only I am personally acquainted with Anna Politkovskaya and, perhaps, the reality of Russia. And so, I feel that I have the right to say the following: 1. It is an abominable idea, that Anna was not poisoned, but was only trying to enhance her image. She has already made her name and displayed her authority, not only in the former Soviet Union, but in other countries as well. None of you show her any sympathy, though no one has the right...

A "New Gazette" correspondent attends the London premier of this year's film sensation "Fahrenheit 9/11" Certainly this is an anti-Bush film, and in this sense from time to time it is excellently filmed. Everything is extremely clear: Bush is skillfully separated from all his words and self-confident facial expressions and shown to be the greatest eccentric of our times. The London theater at first laughs loudly, then in unison sighs: "my God..." while the appearance of silly Britney Spear's talking head, with words of support for "my president" is encountered by a collective shuddering... The anti-Bush emotions aren't everything, however....