WiPC 2009 Resolution: Russia

The Assembly of Delegates of International PEN, meeting at its 75th International Congress in Linz, Austria, 19-25 October 2009

Appalled by the brutal kidnap and murder in Chechnya on 16 July 2009 of Natalia Estemirova, a courageous defender of human rights who recorded abuses in Chechnya and who was a vital and respected source of information for journalists from Russia and outside;

Equally appalled by the 20 January 2009 killing in Moscow of her colleagues Stanislav Markelov a lawyer for Novaya Gazeta who was shot dead along with the young journalist Anastasya Baburova, killed as she tried to apprehend Markelov's killer;

Shocked at the escalating numbers of murders of journalists: 18 have been killed since 2000 for their work;

Welcomes the statement by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev condemning Estemirova's murder and pledging to bring those responsible to justice.

However noting that the trial of Anna Politkovskaya herself assassinated in Moscow in October 2006, and who had worked closely with Natalia Estemirova in Chechnya, closed in February 2009 with the acquittal of three men in a trial that was described by the Council of Europe as a "blatant failure";

Welcoming the decision of the Supreme Court to re-open the investigation into Politkovskaya's death;

Pointing out that the fact that of the 18 journalists killed from 2000 to date, in only one case has the killer been brought to justice, the rest remain free;

Increasingly concerned that this dismal lack of prosecution of the killers of journalists has made Russia a place where those who kill their critics can do so with impunity, and makes Presidential promises of justice for Natalia Estemirova, Anastasya Baburova, Anna Politkovskaya hollow;

Therefore calls on the Russian authorities to do much more to ensure that those who killed Natalia Estemirova, Stanislav Markelov, Anatasya Baburova, Anna Politkovksaya, and the 14 other murdered journalists whose cases have not been resolved be brought to justice;

States that the only way that this can be done is through full, fair and impartial trials which result in the imprisonment of not only those who carry out the murders, but those who instigate them.