Anna Politkovskaya: A woman, journalist and human rights activist in contemporary Russia

Résumé du document

am a pariah". This is how Anna Politkovskaya defines herself in the beginning of a posthumous article published by The Guardian on October 14th, 2006. Seven days before, on October 7th, around 5 pm, she was murdered in her flat in still non-clarified circumstances. Her death occurred while she was working on an article dealing with torture in Chechnya. Anna Politkovskaya was a Russian journalist born in 1958 from a healthy family, whose father was a diplomat. "I was a girl from a diplomatic family, a reader, a bit of a swot; I didn't know life at all." She became a journalist under the communist regime, which enabled her to travel throughout the country. Indeed, journalists were provided with an authorization to circulate freely in the country, which was something exceptional under the communist regime. During the period of Perestroika, Anna Politkovskaya switched to the independent press.

Extraits

[...] They consult me and tell me what is going on at the top. But only in secret.”4 A very rich aspect of A. Politkovskaya's work was that she managed to get contacts and information from both sides: the Kremlin top officials, their delegates in Chechnya, and also the Chechen rebels, and the Chechen population. She was able to get a global apprehension of the events, though her work was always oriented against the government's policy. Such an orientation may well be the direct cause of her death. [...]

[...] Anna Politkovskaya, a woman, journalist and human right fighter in nowadays Russia am a pariah”. This is how Anna Politkovskaya defines herself in the beginning of a posthumous article published by The Guardian on October 14th Seven days before, on October 7th, around 5 pm, she was murdered in her flat in still non-clarified circumstances. Her death occurred while she was working on an article dealing with torture in Chechnya. Anna Politkovskaya was a Russian journalist born in 1958 from a healthy family, whose father was a diplomat. [...]

[...] Therefore, A Politkovskaya's life as a and mysterious death question the existence of actual democracy in Russia. II) A and an whose life questions the existence of freedom of speech in Russia An enemy of the government: A Politkovskaya described herself as pariah, an enemy”. She was kept at distance by officials, and was not invited to press conferences or Kremlin gatherings, like other journalists. She had been expressively designated as a danger for Russian state, because she was not “amenable to re-education”. [...]

[...] Being a woman, a brilliant journalist, and a specialist of the Chechen country, who liked field work, she became a symbol of the anti-Putin's dissidence. Her professional experience contains all conceivable elements of attempts to intimidate her and obstruct her work. But it also emphasizes the recognition both from the international community, which awarded her mainly, and from the top officials, who kept on giving her information, even when it implied hiding and risking to be discredited. In her interview with journalists from The Guardian. [...]

[...] Not only did she write, but also acted, as a negotiator during the Moscow theatre terrorist action in October 2002. She intended to do the same in Beslan in 2004, but fell ill on the flight, probably because of food poisoning. Her perception of her own work A. Politkovskaya saw herself as a neutral and necessary witness of the events. have merely reported what I have witnessed, no more than that. I have written and, less frequently, I have spoken.“[4]. [...]