U.S. welcomes Russia's plans to review cases of attacks on journalists

© Photo : Anna Politkovskaya's family archiveRussian investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya
Russian investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya - Sputnik International
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The United States welcomes Russia's plans to review criminal cases concerning attacks on journalists, the U.S. State Department said in a statement on the fourth anniversary of the murder of Russian investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya.

The United States welcomes Russia's plans to review criminal cases concerning attacks on journalists, the U.S. State Department said in a statement on the fourth anniversary of the murder of Russian investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya.

Novaya Gazeta reporter Politkovskaya, who gained international recognition for her reporting of atrocities against civilians in the troubled North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, was gunned down in an elevator in her Moscow apartment building on October 7, 2006.

"October 7th marks the fourth anniversary of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, a highly respected investigative journalist. Four years have passed since her murder, yet those responsible have yet to be brought to justice," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

"We welcome the recent announcement by Russian officials that the criminal investigation into Ms. Politkovskaya's case will be reenergized and that 19 unsolved cases of murdered journalists will be reopened," he said.

Russia's top investigator Alexander Bastrykin in late September ordered a review of all cases concerning attacks on journalists.

"Politkovskaya devoted much of her career to shining a light on human rights abuses and unmasking the misery of war, especially in Chechnya. She stood for what is best in independent journalism by giving a voice to victims and illuminating the truth," Crowley said.

In February, a Moscow court acquitted three men charged with involvement in the shooting of Politkovskaya, but the Supreme Court overturned the ruling and ordered a retrial.

"The U.S. will continue to focus attention on Ms. Politkovskaya's case and that of Paul Klebnikov, the murdered editor of Forbes' Russian edition, as well as the cases of all the other brave journalists who have been killed in Russia," he said.

Russia has one of the poorest journalist safety records in the world. With at least 35 journalists murdered between 2000 and 2009, the International Press Institute places Russia fifth in its ranking of countries most dangerous for journalists, after Iraq, the Philippines, Colombia and Mexico.

 

WASHINGTON, October 7 (RIA Novosti)

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