On January 27, the Moscow City Court removed five jurors from the jury presiding over the trial of slain Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Seven years after her murder, the case is nowhere close to a verdict, as it has gone through major fits and starts. The jury change is the second in this unwieldy case. On November 14, the court disbanded the previous jury after three more jurors withdrew for various reasons, "leaving the panel with less than 12 people required by law," according to the news site RAPSI.
Another juror was also removed last fall when it emerged that the man had a previous murder conviction.
Five men who were also previously charged with Politkovskaya's murder had been acquitted in 2009, leading to the retrial. The Politkovskaya family, their defense team, as well as countless activists worldwide who have been seeking legal justice, have grown increasingly angry with the Russian authorities' apparent flippant attitude to solving the case.
Politkovskaya's murder has remained a mystery for the past seven years ever since the intrepid journalist was killed by unknown assailants in her apartment building on October 7, 2006. Politkovskaya's reporting caused her many enemies on both sides of the Russian and Chechen conflict. Russian authorities long believed she covered Chechens too sympathetically, and had been a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin's autocratic style of governance. Her reporting did not win her any friends on the Chechen side either.
Many activists believe the defendants on trial are mere fronts for the real assailants, as the mastermind to her murder still remains hidden. The defendants on trial include Sergei Khadzhikurbanov (a former police officer), the brothers Rustam Makhmudov, Ibragim Makhmudov and Dzhabrail Makhmudov, and their uncle Lom-Ali Gaitukayev.
Nina Ognianova, Committee to Protect Journalists' Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator, told Lawyer Herald that that it remains dubious that the Russian authorities truly care about finding those responsible for orchestrating and committing Politkovkskaya's murder.
"The retrial, which has not started in earnest, in fact was assembled in a very wrong track," Ognianova said at the United Nations on Wednesday.
"There was the very question of whether the right defendants are on the stand, and where is the mastermind? In fact, the mastermind and the motive in the killing have never been publicly reported on, nor established by this government. And before that happens, any other developments pale in comparison because this is the trend in Russia: you may net the small fish but not the commissioners of the crime," Ognianova added.
Video Credit: Jared Feldschreiber
Politkovskaya's murder trial is not on the minds of many Russians, as the $51 billion Winter Olympics in Sochi, which began last week, has generated tremendous buzz. This trend is an attempt by Russia to 're-brand' its public image, Ognianova said.
"The hosting of the Olympics... as the biggest sport mega event... is part of a concentrated effort to resurrect Russia from its ashes and to take it up on its feet no matter what," said Ognianova.
"Adhering to international conventions and to the Olympic Charter, which Russia had pledged [in accepting to host] the Games is not as important to the authorities than representing this very polished, positive image of a new and strong Russia, a Russia that has no negative issues to report on," Ognianova added.
For legal analysts, however, it remains an urgent and moral imperative to find the culprits and mastermind to an unsolved murder of an investigative reporter, if the country wants to project itself as a free and pluralistic society.
Video Credit: Jared Feldschreiber
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