LONDON, Oct. 12 LAWFUEL – Law News International — Today international attorney Robert Amsterdam called for an independent investigation into the assassination of
Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, questioning the credibility of the
Russian General Prosecutor’s investigation.
“The office of the Russian General Prosecutor has demonstrated a
systemic inability to investigate crime, especially in cases involving
journalists or others who are critical of the political bosses of the
Russian Federation,” Mr. Amsterdam said. “Unfortunately, in recent years
Russian prosecutors have been more involved in the fabrication of evidence and staging of show trials than they have been in the preparation of fair and unbiased investigations.”
Amsterdam echoed the call for more proactive international involvement in the investigation made by press freedom group Reporters without Borders,
which held a memorial service for Politkovskaya in Paris yesterday attended by more than 1,000 people.
By attempting to minimize the role of this heroic journalist, the
reaction of the Russian Federation authorities has been crassly
inappropriate, said Mr. Amsterdam. “This aggressive posturing must be
brought to the attention of all those foreign leaders who have time and
time again extended the benefit of the doubt to the Kremlin,” he said.
Mr. Amsterdam stated that the death of Politkovskaya calls for the most thorough and independent investigation possible, “so that those within the Kremlin and Russian law enforcement agencies whose conduct she spent a lifetime criticizing are not allowed to attack her in death as they have attacked her in life.”
“Considering that the authorities seized Ms. Politkovskaya’s archives
and computer, it is virtually certain that her sources will be compromised, and stories she was working on will never come to light,” said Mr. Amsterdam.
Mr. Amsterdam serves as international counsel for, among others, the
Russian political prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
