Is Journalism Worth Dying For__ Final Dispatches - Anna Politkovskaya [110]
Will the efforts of so many prove fruitless, or will the federals finally be forced to recognise that they cannot abduct and kill in Chechnya with impunity? And will people in Chechnya recognise that they too must not allow themselves to be intimidated, but must stand up to the war criminals, as the Murdalov family managed to? God give them strength. As of now, there is no other way of reducing the number of extra-judicial executions and massacres in Chechnya.
WARRANTS FOR THE ARREST OF TWO MORE “KHANTIES”: THE CADET’S ACCOMPLICES ARE ON THE RUN
February 9, 2006
Information has now come to light about the exact role played by The Cadet’s superiors in the crime he committed. On November 18 last year the Chechen Prosecutor’s Office instigated a new criminal case against Alexander Prilepin (alias Alex) and V. Minin under Articles 286 and 111 of the Russian Criminal Code.
Initial attempts to question The Cadet’s superiors, who may be able to explain what happened to The Cadet’s victim, Zelimkhan Murdalov, ran into strong opposition from their colleagues in the Khanty-Mansiysk and Nizhnevartovsk Interior Affairs Directorates. Prilepin and Minin categorically refused to meet the investigators.
Both have now had federal warrants issued for their arrest by the Chechen Prosecutor’s Office.*
* Stanislav Markelov was gunned down in central Moscow on January 19, 2009, together with Anastasia Baburova, a freelance journalist working for Novaya gazeta. He was leaving a press conference protesting at the early release of rapist and murderer ex-Colonel Yuriy Budanov. Anna Politkovskaya had been instrumental in securing the conviction of Budanov. Neither President Medvedev nor Prime Minister Putin commented on these murders.
* In autumn 2006, Investigators of the Prosecutor-General’s Office who went to Khanty-Mansiysk to examine one line of inquiry into the murder of Anna Politkovskaya discovered that Prilepin and Minin had been living at their home addresses all this time, going to work, and nobody had been looking for them.
4. Nord-Ost
On October 23, 2002 the hostage-taking in Moscow by Chechen terrorists of the audience of a musical, Nord-Ost, made worldwide headlines. Anna, who attempted to negotiate inside the theatre with the terrorists, was ultimately able to show with a high degree of certainty, with information provided by the FSB whistle-blower Alexander Litvinenko, since murdered, that this event and its disastrous outcome had been another production of the Russian regime.
ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA FACES DIFFICULTIES RETURNING TO MOSCOW TO ASSIST IN NEGOTIATING WITH THE TERRORISTS
October 24, 2002*
From the Editors of Novaya gazeta:
12:30 p.m.
Novaya gazeta’s columnist Anna Politkovskaya is prepared to enter negotiations with those who have seized hostages in Moscow. She is sympathetic to their demands for an end to the Chechen War, but disapproves of their methods. Civilians should not suffer because of mistakes made by the state authorities.
Anna Politkovskaya is currently in Washington, DC where she was engaged in discussions with senior State Department and White House officials about finding a peaceful solution to the Chechen issue. Others taking part in these discussions included Ilias Akhmadov, a politician respected by the Chechens; Dr Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and Lord Judd, who has several times visited Chechnya on behalf of the Council of Europe. Thus Anna Politkovskaya, although far from Russia, was effectively engaged in fulfilling the demands of the hostage-takers in Moscow.
As soon as she returns to Moscow, which can be no sooner than 13 hours from now