Human Rights Commissioner Speaks of Lack of Progress in Politkovskaya Case

Anna PolitkovskayaMOSCOW. Oct 6 (Interfax) - The murderers of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya have not been caught in the four years after her death and this is a reflection of the standard of Russian investigative bodies, human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin told Interfax on Wednesday.

"Four years have passed. However, everything is at a standstill. I don't see that anything would have changed," he said.

[Original of image copyright (c) 2010. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036]

"Even though every death is a tragedy and Politkovskaya's murder is a landmark. The same applies to the death of Yury Shchekochikhin and several other crimes. Years are passing, criminal cases have not been closed but nothing is happening," Lukin said.

"This apparently speaks of the standard of the government bodies conducting the investigation. They realize well that their reputation in both this country and the rest of the world largely depends on how these cases
are tackled. Nevertheless, essentially nothing is moving forward. That can be recognized," he said.

"There was a trial. But it failed. Sufficient evidence had not been collected to sentence those who were charged (with involvement in Politkvoskaya's murder)," he said.

"Probably something is happening at some bureaucratic instances. Probably something is happening in the investigative bodies. But years are passing and that is intolerable," the ombudsman said.

Anna Politkovskaya, a reporter for Novaya Gazeta, was murdered on October 7, 2006 in the stairway of her home in Moscow.


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