Our Wars
The Intrigue Around Anna
Not all wars are fought in the open on the battlefield. Anna Politkovskaya was a Russian journalist who was murdered outside her flat shortly after publishing a scathing book on former Russian president Vladimir Putin.
By Meagan Murphy Ross
For a background on the case, see: Timeline of events in the Anna Politkovskaya incident
Walking down the airplane's aisle, Anna couldn't help but notice the three steely-eyed FSB agents at the front of the plane.
“No time to worry about that now,” she thought to herself, swinging her laptop bag over her shoulder. Dealing with those characters would just have to wait.
She felt lucky to be on the flight at all, in fact, surprised considering all the other journalists clamoring to get to Rostov.
A flight attendant approaches and Anna decides against food, instead opting for a warm cup of tea. She awakes hours later in a Rostov hospital - all medical tests from the airport have been destroyed but the doctor confirms what she suspects…poison. Anna thinks about the children: two at home, hundreds endangered in Rostov, before slowly drifting back into unconsciousness.
“Another drink?” asked Alexander.
“No, I need to get going,” the Italian said as he casually pushed the document toward him.
Alexander knew that what it contained could be hot stuff. Anna had just been murdered the month before. Shot down at the entrance of her Moscow apartment building.
The Italian looked at him critically before withdrawing his hand from the papers. Alexander nodded, opened his briefcase and slid the pages under a folder.
Alright, they would do business after all. Alexander felt confident he could help this Italian, Mario, get what he wanted. Dig up a few connections between Moscow and Italy's political elite? Not too tough.
It was approaching rush hour in London - Alexander walked along the busy sidewalk to his parked car, not realizing that cell by cell, his body was being lethally poisoned by Polonium 210. Even if he knew he'd been poisoned, there was nothing that he could have done. There is no antidote for Polonium 210.
Karinna was busy preparing for her trip. Everything was a complete mess, but that was to be expected when both preparing for court and organizing the lives of her three children for the duration. She dreaded leaving her family in France but she would need to have her attention fully focused on the job at hand while in Moscow. She had to keep her perspective. The death of one of her most famous clients was finally going to trial - that was the important thing, a day Karinna had been waiting for these past two years. Soon, she would be on the plane and she could review the files again.
When they bought the new car in August, Karinna thought it a good choice for the family. It seemed especially true now, two months later, as she was running around taking care of errands before her departure.
Fighting off headaches, Karinna pushed through preparations, putting the aches down to flu. When the vomiting began and her children also became ill she wondered if something more serious was afoot.
What she didn't realize was that it was actually 'underfoot', rolling around the floorboard. Silver beads of mercury, once contained - in what? A thermometer? Somehow released, broken, the contents left to meld and separate back and forth below the floor mats. But by whom and why?
If her daughter had not needed to go to the hospital, it is hard to say how much longer they would have been exposed to the substance. Though not poisonous enough to kill, the mercury is definitely enough to get a person's attention. It did indeed get Karinn'a attention. It seemed she would be unable to attend Anna's court hearing after all.
***
A journalist and author of politically critical books, Anna Politkovskaya was murdered on October 7, 2006. A vocal critic of the Putin administration and a field reporter on the Chechnya war, Politkovskaya's safety had been considered precarious by many for more than five years.
In October, 2008, a closed military court hearing began in Moscow even though the actual murdered has not yet been apprehended. The man accused of shooting Politkovskaya, Rustam Makhmudov, has fled to Western Europe. His two brothers, Ibragim and Dzhabrail, are standing trial along with Sergei Khadzhikurbanov - a former Moscow police officer.
A fourth man, Pavel Ryaguzov, though no longer considered a suspect, is the reason the case is being held in a military court. Ryaguzov, a Federal Security Service officer, is accused of criminal links with the police officer Khadzhikurbanov on earlier charges.
Politkovskaya's family and supporters are pushing to have the case heard in open court.
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