LexisNexis Global

Press coverage of Russian human rights abuses is met with violence. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Russia is the third deadliest country in the world for reporters. Three journalists have been murdered so far this year. Media Watchdog: Russia Neglects Journalist Murders, Associated Press Worldstream (Sept. 15, 2009). With the exception of the Russian Supreme Court’s surprise decision to order further investigation of the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, there seems to be little done to curtail the use of violence against media who report human rights abuses. Court Orders Further Probe Into Russian Killing, Associated Press Worldstream (Sept. 3, 2009).  Not even human rights lawyers are immune from this mysterious murder trend, as Karina Moskalenko, an attorney representing Ms. Politkovskaya’s family in the investigation found, when she was nearly poisoned (Lawyer for Russian dissidents may have been poisoned -LA Times, Oct. 16, 2008). Is it merely an amazing coincidence that this trend of mysterious, unsolvable murders of outspoken critics and reformers in Russia has been especially pronounced during the presence on the national scene of Mr. Putin? The unsolved murder case of Fr. Alexander Men on September 9, 1990 dates this trend to the emergence of Putin, then leader of the KGB, on the national scene (Assassination of Fr. Men , Christian History Institute, Sept. 2007). The mysterious murder trend simply continues. 

 Are we to believe that Russia merely abounds with deranged random murderers, like Dosteyevski’s character Raskolnikov in “Crime & Punishement”? Do the Kremlin powers think the rest of the world is so naïve?  In January 2009, human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova were slain. In July 2009, human rights activist Natalya Estemirova was abducted and executed. Slain Russian Activist's Colleague Despairs, Associated Press Worldstream (Aug. 30, 2009). In August 2009, aid worker Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband were kidnapped and murdered. 4 Police, 2 Militants Die In Chechnya Gun Battle, Associated Press Worldstream (Aug. 14, 2009). In all of these cases, as in the case of Fr. Men, the killers have never been apprehended.