Officials shun reporter's funeral
By Gary James,WNS Russia Bureau Chief
MOSCOW - Hundreds of Russians, journalists and Western diplomats filed past an open casket Tuesday to pay their respects to slain reporter Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent Kremlin critic whose contract-style killing triggered international outrage.But no high-ranking government officials attended the funeral of the award-winning journalist, who made her name fearlessly exposing abductions and torture in the war in Chechnya."The authorities are cowards. Why didn't they come? Are they afraid even of a dead Politkovskaya?" asks Boris Nemtsov, a prominent 1990s reformer who served as deputy prime minister under former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
More than 1,000 mourners who had gathered under the drizzle filed past the open casket where Politkovskaya lay in a funeral hall on the outskirts of Moscow, her forehead covered with a white ribbon according to Russian Orthodox tradition.They placed flowers, mostly roses and carnations, around the coffin, while others held thin yellow prayer candles. Many wept. "Anya lived and died a hero," said veteran human rights campaigner Lyudmila Alexeyeva. "She couldn't bear seeing how people suffer, how they're in trouble, and that's why she rushed to their help as if she were the most powerful person in the world, not waiting for other help to arrive."
"I hope that this tragic death will lead to greater respect for freedom of speech, for the importance of speaking the truth and achieving fairness and truth," said U.S. Ambassador William Burns, who attended the ceremony. Putin issued a brief statement after a conversation with U.S. President George W. Bush promising an "objective investigation" into Politkovskaya's murder, three days after her death, but he has not spoken publicly on the crime. Amnesty International called on the Russian leader to condemn the killing, saying his statement should "make clear that attacks on independent journalists and human rights defenders are unacceptable."
posted by wnsworld @ 5:33 AM
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