Sixteen years ago today, on 7 October 2006, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was murdered in her apartment building in Moscow, a shocking crime in a country that had started to become accustomed to politically motivated reprisals.
Politkovskaya had been known as a fearless journalist and human rights defender, who reported on the atrocities committed during the Second Chechen War in the early 2000s – atrocities she attributed squarely to the Russian authorities.
It is sadly fitting that today, on the anniversary of her death, the UN Human Rights Council has voted to establish a special rapporteur to monitor and report on the human rights situation in Russia.
