Chechen Activist Murdered; Prez Eyed

Suspicion of Anna Politkovskaya's killers leads to Chechnya

(NEWSER) - Russia's supreme court ordered a new investigation into the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, the crusading journalist whose killers have not yet been found, reports the Guardian. The move received a cautious welcome from Politkovskaya's lawyer, who welcomed a new manhunt but said, "Whether the general prosecutor will use this opportunity, we don't know." A shambolic trial of four people accused in her death earlier this year ended in acquittals. More»

Politkovskaya's killer remains at large after shambolic trial

(NEWSER) - Four men were acquitted today on charges related to the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent Russian journalist shot dead in 2006. Two Chechen brothers and a former Moscow policeman were found not guilty of offering operational support to her killer, and a Russian spy was cleared in a related case. Politkovskaya's murderer is still at large, and her colleagues suspect someone powerful ordered her killing, the Guardian reports. More»

(NEWSER) - The kidnapping and murder of activist Natalya Estemirova in Chechnya was horrific, her friend writes in a Washington Post op-ed, but not surprising in the "grossly misruled" region where "anyone who challenges the authorities risks her life." Tanya Loshkina, a director of Human Rights Watch, had just left Chechnya, where the two documented torture, abductions, and assassinations. "We sat at my kitchen table talking into the wee hours about who would be next," she writes. "Now I know." More»

Supreme Court throws out acquittals in Politkovskaya case

(NEWSER) - Russia's Supreme Court has overturned the acquittals of three men in the murder of crusading journalist Anna Politkovskaya, and ordered a retrial, reports the BBC. Prosecutors claimed that judicial irregularities and misinformation led to an improper verdict, and Politkovskaya's newspaper colleagues have accused the police of shoddy work. Despite international attention in the case, neither the actual triggerman nor those who ordered the killing have been found. More»

Indictments for killing of journalist, but hit man still at large

(NEWSER) - Four men have been charged in Moscow in connection with the killing of Anna Politkovskaya, the investigative journalist shot dead outside her apartment in 2006. Authorities believe that her murder was linked to her exposés on human rights abuses in Chechnya. Two of the accused are Chechens, the Guardian reports—both brothers of the suspected hit man, who is still at large. More»