MURDERED FOR TELLING THE TRUTH
Investigative Russian Reporter Anna Politkovskaya (1958-2006)
The most famous investigative journalist in Russia was shot dead by an assassin yesterday as she stepped out of her apartment elevator.

Igor Yakovenko, general secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists, said he believes Anna Politkovskaya's death is tied to her critical stance on the Kremlin and Chechnya.

"There's no doubt that this murder was tied to her professional work as a journalist," he said. "It's clearly a contract killing -- that can be seen from the circumstances. The fact that the person was killed in the entryway of their apartment building, that the pistol was left at the scene of the crime -- all that is the signature of a professional hired killer. In the past 15 years, 246 journalists have been killed here, and not once has the state been able to investigate and solve these murders in a normal way. If our journalists aren't able unite around an independent journalistic investigation of this murder, then I have the feeling that after a certain period Russian journalism will simply vanish as a profession from our country. In the past 15 years, 246 journalists have been killed here, and not once has the state been able to investigate and solve these murders in a normal way."

In a BBC interview two years ago, Politkovskaya said she felt compelled to continue her reporting, regardless of any death threats: "I am absolutely sure that risk is [a] usual part of my job. ... I think the duty of doctors is to give health to their patients, the duty of the singer to sing. The duty of [the] journalist: to write what this journalist sees in the reality."

Would be there were more brave journalists like her here in America.

May the LORD comfort her family and friends as they mourn the loss of this courageous woman who simply wanted to report the truth.

Russia: Watchdogs Condemn Politkovskaya Killing