Politkovskaya,
48, was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in an elevator in
her apartment building at 8/12 Lesnaya Ulitsa near Belorussky Station
in central Moscow.
The killing of the Novaya Gazeta reporter outraged journalists and
political leaders in Russia and was met with shock and sorrow in
Western countries. As of Sunday evening, the Kremlin had made no
comment.
On the day of her murder, Politkovskaya had planned to file a lengthy
story on torture practices believed to be used by Chechen authorities,
Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov said.
Those accused in the story of practicing torture belong to security
detachments loyal to Chechnya's pro-Moscow Prime Minister Ramzan
Kadyrov, Muratov said. The detachments are known as kadyrovtsy.
Now the story may never be published. What's more, Muratov said, two photographs of the suspected torturers have disappeared.
Politkovskaya's body was discovered by a neighbor between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Investigators found a pistol and four 9-millimeter bullet casings at
the scene, First Deputy City Prosecutor Vyacheslav Rosinsky said in
televised comments.
Politkovskaya was carrying grocery bags, apparently having just returned from a Ramstore supermarket, when she was gunned down.
Footage from a security camera in the apartment building foyer showed
the presumed killer, a tall young man wearing dark clothing and a black
baseball cap.
Prosecutor General Yury Chaika will personally oversee the investigation, his office announced Sunday.
Chaika's office said investigators were considering Politkovskaya's professional work as the primary motive for her murder.
Most of Politkovskaya's colleagues, friends and acquaintances
interviewed believe the killing was ordered by those seeking revenge
for her reporting on corruption or Chechnya.
"There can be no other reason," said Alexei Venediktov, editor of the
Ekho Moskvy radio station and a friend of the journalist. "She had no
other life apart from her profession."
Vitaly Yaroshevsky, a deputy editor at Novaya Gazeta, had no doubts why
Politkovskaya had been killed. "There is no question this is
politically motivated. I can't rule out that this was a murder ordered
from above."
The editors are apparently not counting on authorities to bring the
reporter's killer to justice: Muratov pledged that the paper would
conduct its own investigation.
Billionaire State Duma deputy Alexander Lebedev, who bought 90 percent
of Novaya Gazeta in June, has posted a reward of 25 million rubles,
just under $1 million, for information leading to those responsible for
Politkovskaya's death, Ekho Moskvy reported.
Yaroshevsky said investigators came to the newspaper offices at around
7 p.m Saturday. They searched Politkovskaya's office and confiscated
books and the hard disk from her computer, he said. On Sunday,
investigators appeared to have removed the base unit of her computer,
Yaroshevsky said.
"We fully understand that the investigators need all this information, and we are cooperating," Yaroshevsky said.
On Sunday, Kadyrov, whom had repeatedly been criticized by
Politkovskaya in her articles, and Chechen President Alu Alkhanov
voiced shock at her killing.
Kadyrov said he had, at times, questioned Politkovskaya's objectivity
but deplored her killing. He also cautioned against any speculation
that a "Chechen trail" would lead to the guilty parties, Ekho Moskvy
reported Sunday.
Venediktov speculated that the journalist may have been targeted by
ultranationalists. Her name had been included on several lists of
so-called enemies of the Russian people on ultranationalist web site.
And Venediktov said her killing might have been a demented birthday
gift for President Vladimir Putin, who turned 54 on the day of
Politkovskaya's death.
On Sunday, pro-Kremlin electronic media were awash in speculation that
the killing had been ordered by anti-government forces seeking to
replicate the rallies sparked by the killing of Ukrainian journalist
Heorhiy Gongadze.
Gongadze had written several articles critical of Ukrainian President
Leonid Kuchma. He disappeared in September 2000. His decapitated body
was discovered two months later outside Kiev.
The killing sparked demonstrations in Kiev from December 2000 through
February 2001, helping to foment the opposition to Kuchma that led to
the Orange Revolution of late 2004.
Politkovskaya's killing, explained Maxim Shevchenko, a commentator for
Channel One state television, was "an attempt to provoke an Orange
Revolution here," RIA-Novosti reported.
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, a co-owner of Novaya Gazeta,
said the killing might have been intended to cast a pall over Putin's
Kremlin. Former Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov dismissed that suggestion.
"What pall? There have been so many palls cast on the current authorities and to no avail," Nemtsov said.
On Sunday, more than 500 demonstrators descended on Pushkin Square to
protest Politkovskaya's killing. "The Kremlin has killed freedom of
speech," one poster declared.
Four activists from the pro-Kremlin group Young Russia tried to disrupt
the rally, which had been planned as a show of support for Georgians
and turned into a protest against Politkovskaya's death.
The four, all men, unfurled a sign at the rally reading: "Politkovskaya
is a Russian Gongadze. Orange Creatures, You Will Pay for Her Death."
The men were quickly overwhelmed by demonstrators; their sign was torn
to pieces.
The slaying is the highest-profile murder of a journalist in Russia
since Paul Klebnikov was shot dead after leaving work in July 2004.
Klebnikov, the American editor of the Russian edition of Forbes
magazine, had spent years reporting on Russia's rich and powerful.
If history is any indicator, Politkovskaya's killer is unlikely to be brought to justice.
No one has ever been convicted of the high-profile slayings of
Klebnikov or journalists Dmitry Kholodov, Vladislav Listyev and Larisa
Yudina. The Russians were all killed in the 1990s.
Over the past 15 years, Russia has become the third-deadliest country
in the world for journalists, after Iraq and Algeria, according to the
Committee to Protect Journalists. Since 1992, the group said, 42
journalists have been killed in Russia; the majority of the murders
have never been solved.
Politkovskaya is survived by her son, Ilya, and daughter, Vera. Both are in their early 20s, Yaroshevsky said.
Politkovskaya's ex-husband, Alexander Politkovsky, one of the hosts of
the perestroika-era cult television program "Vzglyad," said Saturday
that his ex-wife had been a "principled, honest journalist."
"She was a person from another time," he said.
The funeral is set to be held Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., at the Troyekurovsky Cemetery.
Staff Writers Nabi Abdullaev, Catherine Belton and Simon Saradzhyan contributed to this story.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/10/09/001.html