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No.166 SIM音読用英文

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Murder of Russian Journalist Prompts Widespread Reaction
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The funeral of Anna Politkovskaya attracted thousands of people

who wanted to pay tribute to the most outspoken critic

of the Kremlin's actions in Chechnya,

and now the 13th Russian journalist

murdered during President Vladimir Putin's administration.

A mother of two, she often traveled to the breakaway republic

where she reported on the cases of kidnapping, torture and other atrocities

she blamed on the Russian military
  
and the Moscow-backed government in Chechnya.

Politkovskaya was murdered

in her apartment building in Moscow on Saturday evening.

The killer ambushed her in the elevator,

fired four shots from a silenced Makarov pistol and fled.

A surveillance camera captured an image of a man

leaving the building after the shooting,

but no further details on his identity or motives were released.

And few of those who queued up

to buy a special edition of Novaya Gazeta on Monday,

the publication Politkovskaya worked for,

said they believe the case will be resolved any time soon.

Politkovskaya’s colleague, Galina Murzalieva, said

that in a recent radio interview, Politkovskaya said

she was investigating a case of alleged kidnapping, torture and murder

perpetrated by Chechnya's Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov

and his personal army of heavily armed fighters.

"She said she had two photographs which show the tortures

that Kadyrov's regime perpetrates in Chechnya.

The story on this she was supposed to file

on the day of her death."

Shortly after the killing, Prime Minister Kadyrov denied

there was any Chechen involvement into the case

and expressed regret over the death of the reporter.

The newspaper announced a reward of more than one million dollars

for information that could help find the killer

and said it will conduct its own investigation into the case.

In the course of her career, Anna Politkovskaya had made many enemies

- but she was so prominent

that few believed anything could happen to her,

including Tatiana Lokshina of Demos.

"As a journalist who worked on Chechnya,

on this very sensitive topic,

she was frequently receiving threats.

But she was working for such a long time

and publishing such powerful stories and taking so many risks,

that after a certain point we all started thinking

that she is so much of an icon that nothing can ever happen to her,

it would be too scandalous.

And we were wrong, I am afraid, very tragically wrong."

According to the New-York-based Committee to Protect Journalists,

Politkovskaya was at least the 43rd journalist

killed for her work in Russia since 1993.

Most of the murder cases remain unsolved.

And although Politkovskaya's death has provoked a reaction around
the world,

no one from the Russian government attended her funeral.

Anya Ardayeva for VOA, Moscow.
(Material is provided courtesy of voanews.com.)
by danueno | 2006-10-18 11:32 | SIM音読用英文


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