The 15th temporary plaque has been installed on Politkovskaya's house.
Activists have installed the 15th temporary plaque on the home of murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The plaque echoes the inscription on the memorial plaque that hung on the wall of the building for nearly 20 years and was destroyed on January 18.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on January 18, the plaque that had hung for nearly 20 years on the wall of the building on Lesnaya Street in Moscow where Novaya Gazeta columnist Anna Politkovskaya lived and was shot was destroyed for the first time. Civil Initiative activists replaced the plaque with a temporary one, but it was also destroyed on January 19. On the evening of February 14, activists affixed the 14th temporary memorial plaque to the building. This morning, it was missing. from the wall.
One plaque, installed by Yabloko activists, hung for a week and a half, but was also destroyed on February 6. Activists then painted the original text from the broken plaque onto the building's facade ("Anna Politkovskaya lived in this building and was vilely murdered on October 7, 2006"). Representatives of a far-right organization, designated as terrorist, claimed responsibility for the destruction of the first plaque. The man who smashed a memorial plaque was fined 1,000 rubles, though he denied any wrongdoing, claiming the plaque "fell and broke on its own."
In Moscow, activists have restored a black plaque commemorating journalist Anna Politkovskaya on the building where she was killed, RusNews reports. Photos are attached to the report, showing a new plaque, repeating the text on the original plaque, placed beneath the stenciled inscription.
In January, one of the building's residents admitted to destroying the temporary plaque. "Yes, I'm breaking it! And who gave you permission to put it up? She didn't live here, she had a safe house! This is my house! I didn't give you permission!" " she said. She added that she hadn't broken the original memorial plaque, but that the plaque had "always been a nuisance" to her.
As a reminder, Anna Politkovskaya, known for her articles on the war and human rights violations in Chechnya, was killed in Moscow on October 7, 2006. The court found that Lom-Ali Gaitukayev had organized the murder, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Rustam Makhmudov was found to be the actual perpetrator, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "The Murder of Anna Politkovskaya".
In 2025, on the 19th anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya's murder, residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg brought flowers to her grave, the Novaya Gazeta office, and the memorial to the victims of repression. Some of those convicted in the case of her murder have already been released, but the person who ordered it has not yet been convicted, Politkovskaya's colleagues recalled.
On the fifth anniversary of Politkovskaya's murder, journalists and human rights activists at a rally in Tbilisi highlighted her contribution to the fight for freedom of speech, demanding that those who ordered her murder be identified.
The "Caucasian Knot" is publishing materials dedicated to Politkovskaya on the thematic page "Politkovskaya and Estemirova," which also contains materials about Anna's friend, journalist and human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, who was killed in 2009 and also worked on the problems of Chechen residents.
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