Remembering Anna: Russia's Struggle with Free Speech Continues

Basic human rights are often taken for granted, such as the right to education, shelter, and freedom from persecution. However, what happens when those rights become more complex, such as freedom of the press, and a person’s right to have their opinion and not have to pay for it too. Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist and human rights activist, was mysteriously murdered this week five years ago. As people all over Europe were commemorating and mourning this tragic anniversary, Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg was being questioned about that case, as well as about other “high-profile murder investigations and key human rights issues in Russia”. When murders are occurring because journalists are too informed and are merely trying to deliver the truth, it raises a lot of eyebrows about the stability and reliability of human rights in a place where silencing comes in the form of permanence to an activist, a writer, and a good Samaritan. Politkovskaya was thought to have been commenting on Checkyna, a republic within Russia where people are constantly being misplaced or are just vanishing altogether, and perhaps someone felt she knew too much and was sharing that information that could be detrimental to their schemes. While the Council of Europe Human Rights is consistently looking into humanitarian and human rights efforts in these areas, only so much policing can be done when there exists an air of fear and resilience that seems to be permeating everywhere in Eastern Europe.

http://www.rferl.org/content/interview_hammarberg_human_rights_russia/24352673.html