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“People ask me: ‘Why do you write about this war?’ The reason is quite simple: we are contemporaries of this savage conflict and, in the end, we will have to answer for it." Anna Politkovskaja (1958-2006)

She who summarized her work and courage with the words above is no more. She was killed Saturday October 7 by a gunman in the elevator of her house.

Anna was a courageous journalist who described the atrocities of the war in Chechnya. She investigated corruption among high-ranking military in Chechnya and disclosed cases of torture in the Northern Caucasus.

Politkovskaya was one of the most persistent critics of Moscow-backed Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov and his security forces. She had crossed many powerful people, also in the Russian military, with her investigative reporting and human rights advocacy.

She saw many people killed – civilians and soldiers. She shared a lot of sorrow and never denied help when needed by Chechen civilians. Unforgettable and most horrible for her was the exhumation of mass graves occasionally found by the local population. Contrary to the commonly accepted rules when such graves are exhumed, no criminal or forensic investigation has ever been conducted into these mass killings, so that the presence of independent observers is called for.

Local Chechen women, hoping to find their husbands and children among the piles of bodies, repeatedly asked Anna to come and be a witness. She never refused them, knowing full well that no excuse would ever be able to appease her conscience. Anna always felt a strong personal responsibility for her country and its people.

Source: PeaceWomen Across the Globe

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