EIT: Anna Politkovskajan murha tutkittiin puutteellisesti

Investigation of journalist Anna Politkovskaya’s murder failed to look properly into who commissioned the crime

In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Mazepa and Others v. Russia (application
no. 15086/07) the European Court of Human Rights held, by five votes to two, that there had been:

• a violation of Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Court found in particular that while the authorities had found and convicted a group of men
who had directly carried out the contract killing of Ms Politkovskaya, they had failed to take
adequate investigatory steps to find the person or persons who had commissioned the murder.
The authorities had followed one theory about the instigator of the crime, pointing to a now
deceased Russian businessman residing in London, however, they had not explained how they had
followed through on that line of enquiry. They should also have explored other possibilities,
including those suggested by the applicants. They had alleged the involvement of agents from
Russia’s FSB domestic secret service or of the administration of the Chechen Republic.
The State had failed to abide by its obligations under the Convention to carry out an effective
investigation and the length of the proceedings had been too long.

http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng-press?i=003-6147957-7951870