Moscow pays last tribute to Anna Politkovskaya

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Mourning ceremony hall of the Moscow’s Troekurov cemetery was not large enough to accommodate all the people who came Oct 19 to the funeral of Anna Politkovskaya. Relatives, colleagues, human rights activists, people she wrote about, diplomats, and ordinary people came to pay a last tribute to the journalist killed Oct 7 in Moscow.

Deputy minister of culture Leonid Nadirov, head of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Legislation in Mass Communications Boris Boyarskov, and Vice Speaker of the Council of Federation Alexander Torshin attended the ceremony.

Ambassador of the US to Russia William J. Burns who pronounced a speech said that like many Russians, Americans are shocked with the murder of the one of the boldest journalists. He said that Anna personified the best qualities of her profession. She was deeply respected not only in Russia but also in the whole world.

Russia’s ombudsman Vladimir Lukin who also spoke at the ceremony called on the authorities to ensure security of journalists. Representatives of international and Russian human rights organizations called on the authorities to investigate the murder.

Dean of the School of Journalism of the Moscow State University Yasen Zasursky said: “Anna did not plan to write about war. When she was holding entrance examinations at the School of Journalism, she wrote an essay about Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace,’ and her thesis was about the work of Marina Tsvetaeva.”

Anna Politkovskaya has been buried at the Troekurov cemetery near her father who was buried two weeks ago. A Christian Orthodox cross stands on her grave.