Six Years since Russian Journalist Politkovskaya Murder

Russians hold pictures of murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya and carry placards as they commemorate her killing during a rally in Moscow. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Bulgaria and the world mark Sunday six years since the murder of prominent Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian investigative journalist and defender of human rights was assassinated on October 7 2006, in the elevator of her residential building. Politkovskaya was also known as a harsh critic of then and now Russian President Vladimir Putin and by her war reports from Chechnya and the Northern Caucasus depicting the treatment of the local population by Russian servicemen.

The assassination was met with very strong reactions all over the world and many consider it a killing ordered by the Russian authorities.

One year ago, a suspect hinted that Russian tycoon in exile Boris Berezovsky, a Putin archenemy, may have ordered assassination.

The suspect, former police officer Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, described in detail the preparation of the attack and suggested that it could have been ordered by Berezovsky.

Lom-Ali Gaytukaev, a Chechen citizen believed to have masterminded the assassination, has insisted that it should be preferably carried out on Vladimir Putin's birthday, Pavlyuchenkov has also claimed.

In addition to Pavlyuchenkov and Gaytukaev, Russian authorities arrested the alleged physical perpetrators of the murder brothers Dzhabrail, Ibrahim and Rustam Mahmudovi, and a former employee of the Russian Interior Ministry, Sergey Hadzhikurbanov.

In 2008, it was reported that Politkovskaya's murder might have been ordered by a politician inside Russia. Murad Musayev, a lawyer for the three suspects, brothers Mahmudovi, told journalists that documentation in the case mentions that an unnamed politician, based in Russia, was behind her death.

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