MOSCOW - The person who ordered the assassination of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya sought both to punish her for her critical articles and intimidate society and the authorities, senior investigator Petros Garibyan said.
“In my opinion, the person who ordered the crime did not seek to take
revenge on Anna Politkovskaya for her critical articles alone. First
and foremost, he needed a demonstrative, high-profile act aimed at
intimidating all of us – journalists, society and the authorities,” he
said in an interview published in the Kommersant newspaper on Friday.
According to Garibyan, he came to this conclusion because
Politkovskaya was killed on President Vladimir Putin’s birthday –
October 7.
It was not simply a coincidence because the killer had every chance to commit the crime earlier, he added.
Having studied the last six years of Politkovskaya’s life “under a
microscope”, investigators concluded that the journalist had been killed
in retaliation for her work, he said.
The list of suspects was broadened and included both regional
officials and representatives of the federal government, the
investigator said.
However, there has never been any reason to question Chechen leader
Ramzan Kadyrov, who was the main target for Politkovskaya’s criticism,
Garibyan said.
Investigators also decided not to question businessman Boris
Berezovsky and former emissary of Chechen separatists Akhmed Zakayev due
to the absence of reliable information pointing to their possible
involvement in the crime, he said.
