Moscow
18 June 2008
Controversy is surrounding the high profile investigations of two slainjournalists in Russia and the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan. VOA Moscow Correspondent Peter Fedynsky reports.
TheInvestigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor says in a statementthat the preliminary investigation of the 2006 Anna Politkovskayamurder is over, ending with formal charges against three suspects fromChechnya.
They are identified as Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, andbrothers Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov. A fourth man, former FSBofficer Pavel Ryaguzov, has been charged with extortion and abuse ofoffice.
But Sergei Sokolov, an editor at Novaya Gazeta, thenewspaper where Politkovskaya worked, told VOA that the investigationwas conducted in a way that allowed alleged triggerman Rustam Makhmudovto escape.
Sokolov says if representatives of Russia's FederalSecurity Service and the Moscow Court had held their tongues and notleaked classified information, perhaps the killer would not be abroadbut rather sitting in a courtroom.
Sokolov says investigatorshave also failed to identify who ordered the murder of Politkovskaya,who reported extensively on human rights abuses in Chechnya. She wasgunned down in her apartment building in Moscow in October 2006. Herkilling sparked international outrage, but former President VladimirPutin downplayed her significance, saying the murder was probablyorganized by émigrés seeking to discredit Russia.
Meanwhile,Avas Saipov, the father of slain journalist Alisher Saipov - an ethnicUzbek in Kyrgyzstan - says investigators have destroyed evidence fromhis son's murder in October 2007. The younger Saipov was well-knownthroughout Central Asia for his forthright focus on human rights abusesin Uzbekistan. He was also a stringer for VOA's Uzbek Service.
Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov and his security services are considered prime suspects in the killing.
Ina letter to Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev, Avas Saipov alleges thatUzbek security forces have penetrated law enforcement and the mayor'soffice in Osh, the southern Kyrgyz town near the border of Uzbekistanwhere his son was shot dead.
Avas Saipov also told the VOA that investigators ignored facts he presented in the case and were careless with the evidence.
Theelder Saipov says investigators took Alisher's property, such as officeequipment and documents. Some, he says, was returned, some not,portions were completely destroyed, and the son's office computer wasbroken and its parts were replaced.
A spokesman for the KyrgyzInterior Ministry told VOA that a newly appointed Interior Minister istaking an active interest in the journalist's murder, and Avas Saipovsays he believes the investigation could move forward under renewedleadership.
President Bakiyev has also paid personal attentionto the Saipov case and the father says his letter could prompt theKyrgyz leader to inquire if he had been misinformed about the earlierstatus of the investigation.