Activists have restored the memorial plaque on Politkovskaya's house for the 26th time.
A memorial plaque has been reinstalled on the wall of the building where journalist Anna Politkovskaya lived and was shot. The previous plaque was torn down the day after it was installed.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on January 18, the plaque, which 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 smashed for the first time. Most of the temporary plaques installed by activists after that lasted less than 24 hours. By February 28, 25 plaques had been destroyed, including 24 temporary ones. On March 1, activists installed the 25th temporary plaque.
Most of the plaques repeat the original text from the broken memorial plaque: "Anna Politkovskaya lived in this house and was vilely murdered on October 7, 2006." Some plaques alleged neo-Nazi involvement in the destruction of memorial plaques. 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, fined, although he denied any wrongdoing, claiming that the plaque "fell and broke on its own."
Activists have installed a memorial plaque on Anna Politkovskaya's house for the 26th time, SOTAvision (which is included in the register of foreign agents) reported on the night of March 3.
"Activists plan to continue hanging the plaque until it permanently remains on the house where Anna Politkovskaya died," the report noted.
On the evening of March 2, the publication reported that the 25th temporary plaque on the wall of the house "lasted less than a day." This publication is illustrated with a photograph of a fragment of the wall where the memorial plaque once stood.
In the new publication, the outlet posted a video showing two women putting the 26th plaque in the same spot.
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 wasn't the one who destroyed the original plaque, but that the plaque "always bothered" 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 organized the murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Rustam Makhmudov was found to be the actual perpetrator, according to the Caucasian Knot report "The Murder of Anna Politkovskaya".
Anna Politkovskaya's Last Interview was given to a Caucasian Knot correspondent an hour and a half before her death. In this interview, the journalist commented on Ramzan Kadyrov's career prospects. .
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.