The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has condemned Russia on Tuesday for failing to “implement the appropriate investigative measures to identify the instigator of the murder” of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, murdered in the elevator of her home in October of 2006. Although the perpetrators of the crime are serving life in prison, the person who gave the murder order remains unknown.
As detailed by the Strasbourg court in a statement, Moscow “has not complied with the obligations relating to the effectiveness and duration of the investigation that falls under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The murder of the journalist, who worked for the newspaper Nóvaya Gezeta, one of the most critical of the Kremlin, convulsed Russian public opinion because it exposed the lack of freedom of expression under Putin’s government.
Politkovskaya’s case was mentioned by a Fox News reporter on Monday during an interview with the president of Russia to find out why so many opponents are dying in the country. “Unfortunately, there are some crimes in Russia, although the state is maturing, […] and we are persecuting those responsible for these crimes,” Putin said.
The Court also ordered the Russian state to pay a fine of up to 16,000 euros for moral damages to each of the members of the activist and punk rock group Pussy Riot. In its decision, the court said that Moscow had committed “multiple violations” by sentencing three members of the band to prison for singing anti-Putin songs in a church in 2012.
The plaintiffs, Maria Alekhina, Nadejda Tolokonnikova and Keaterina Samutsevich, suffered “degrading treatment” during their trial , according to the ECHR, in a case that also violated freedom of expression because “it did not analyze the text of the song nor was the context at that time taken into account.”
In particular, the Court condemns Russia for violating Article 3 of the Human Rights Convention for “humiliating” young girls by transporting them to court in a “glass case in plain sight.”
On Sunday, four members of the band dressed in police uniforms briefly slipped interrupted the World Cup final in Moscow when they ran onto the pitch. On Monday, the three women and the man were sentenced to 15 days in prison for “violating the rules of viewer behavior” and will not be able to attend sporting events in the country for three years.
