President Putin and Russian officials must denounce the murder of Anna Politkovskaya

Moscow and Vienna, 9 October 2006. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) are calling upon Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leading Russian officials to denounce the murder of Russian journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot on 7 October.

“What signal is being sent to the Russian people and the international community, that after two days no official has reacted to this crime?” asked Ludmilla Alexeyeva, the chief of the Moscow Helsinki Group and former President of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights.

The IHF and the MHG are concerned that the murder will further intimidate independent journalism in Russia, which has already been reduced under the current presidential administration.

“The silence of President Putin suggests an attitude of complicity, or of indifference. No one can accept that, after the country’s leading media critic of the government has been murdered, apparently by a professional assassin, he keeps silent,” Ulrich Fischer, President of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights stated.

For further information:
Henriette Schroeder, IHF Press Officer, +43 – 1 – 408 88 22 or +43 – 676 – 725 48 29