Anna PolitkovskayaRussia's litany of unsolved murders
Gist is gleaned from an article by Artyom Krechetnikov, BBC Russian Service
There are high-profile unsloved murders in Russia.
Leader sets tune for underlings and Russia's Police and Judiciary toe the line
For example, Anna Politkovskaya, the severely critical Journalist, it is openly said, across the media spectrum, was shot dead as
a birthday gift for Leader of Russia.
Of the 12 most infamous killings, only two have been solved.
Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev told journalists earlier this year that Russia was "moving in the right direction" in combating contract killings.
Of course he meant that haphazard contract killings are now regularized to suit the Leader.
Yet many Russian MPs believe corruption and a labyrinthine bureaucracy are to blame for poor investigations and the frequent failure to secure justice.
Corrupt Leader begets corrupt officials and a corrupt society in the end.
Below is a list of the most high-profile murder cases in Russia.
Dimitry Kholodov, Journalist - Unsolved
The first high-profile killing in the so-called new Russia was of Dmitry Kholodov, a journalist with a Moscow tabloid newspaper.
He was killed in October 1994 by a briefcase bomb.
Kholodov had been investigating corruption in the army.
Prosecutors said the assassination was organised by a group of six people led by the head of the intelligence service of air-borne forces.
In June 2003, Moscow's military court cleared the defendants, citing lack of evidence.
Russian air-borne forces wanted to have a free hand in the '''till'' !
Vladislav listyev, TV Presenter - Unsolved
Vladislav Listyev, a popular TV presenter, was killed in Moscow in March 1995.
Just 34 days after becoming director of Russia's Public Service Television.
The killer waited for Listyev at the entrance to his block of flats and fired two shots at point-blank range.
No one has ever been arrested.
Commentators say Listyev was targeted due to his attempts to make advertising at the channel more transparent.
Well, Vladislav Listyev, neither wouldn't eat it himself and nor would he allow others to take a small bite - so he had to go !
Mikhail Manevich, Government Official - Unsolved
Mikhail Manevich was a 37-year-old senior official in St Petersburg, and friend of Anatoly Chubais, who organised Russia's disastrous "loans-for-shares" privatisations in the 1990s.
Manevich was shot in the morning of 18 August, 1997, on his way to work.
Bizarrely, although the case has never officially been solved, on the anniversary of the crime in 2005, Mr Chubais announced that Manevich's killers "had been found".
Russian bizarre !
Lev Rokhlin, Retired Army Officer
Rokhlin was killed with a gun he was awarded for his military career
Lev Rokhlin was a former lieutenant-general who fought in Afghanistan and the first Chechen war from 1994-1996 - famously condemning its brutality.
He was assassinated on the night of 3 July, 1998, at his dacha near Moscow.
He was shot in the head with a gun he had received as recognition for his military achievements.
In November 2000, a court convicted Rokhlin's wife, Tamara, of her husband's murder and sentenced her to eight years in prison.
Her supporters insist the security services were behind the murder.
Killed in his own home, by his beloved wife, with his own meritorious gun. The man is punished, once more, after death.
What a bunch of gleeful criminal minded bastards these underlings of Leader are ?
Galina Starovoitova, Liberal Politician - Unsolved
Galina Starovoitova was an MP and one of the leaders of Russia's democratic movement as well as a human rights activist and international relations specialist.
She was shot dead near her St Petersburg home on 20 November, 1998.
In 2005, a court sentenced the "technical organiser" of the killing, Yury Kolchin, and the gunman, Vitaly Akinshin, to long prison terms.
But who ordered the murder - and why - remains unknown.
Andrei Kozlov, Banker - Solved
Andrei Kozlov's is one of the few killings to have been solved
Andrei Kozlov, the 41-year-old first deputy director of the Central Bank of Russia, was shot at close range on the evening of 13 September, 2006, while getting into his car.
On 13 November, 2008, Alexy Frenkel, a former head of VIP bank, was sentenced to 19 years in prison for organising the assassination.
Alexy Polovinkin, who pulled the trigger, was sentenced to life in prison.
Three months before the crime, the central bank had taken away Frenkel's licence.
Anna Politkovskaya, Journalist, killed as a birthday present to Leader - Unsolved
A columnist for the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta --- and well-known human rights activist.
Anna Politkovskaya was shot on 7 October, 2006, at the entrance to her block of flats on Moscow's Lesnaya Street.
For many years, the main theme of her work had been Chechnya.
In August 2007, a Moscow court ordered the arrest of 10 suspects in connection with her death. But the majority of them were later freed.
A Moscow police officer and two Chechen brothers stood trial for the murder, although a third brother, who was suspected of being the gunman, disappeared.
The three were acquitted by a jury in February 2009, and have since been sent for retrial.
But Russia's Supreme Court also ordered a new effort to catch those who planned and carried out the killing.
Lawyers say the case against the three suspects in custody will now be halted and merged with the hunt for the killer and alleged mastermind.
Anastasiya Baburova, Journalist and Stanislav Markelov, lawyer - Unsolved
Baburova was gunned down in broad daylight near the Kremlin
Moscow lawyer Stanislav Markelov, 34, and 25-year-old Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasiya Baburova were shot and killed in broad daylight by a masked gunman on Prechistenka street, near the Kremlin.
Markelov worked on several human rights cases, some in connection with Chechnya, and had received several phone threats from extreme Russian nationalist groups.
The main areas of Baburova's journalistic interests were neo-Nazis and skinheads.
Both murders remain unsolved.
Natalya Estemirova, Chechen Human Rights Activist
Estemirova's body was found riddled with bullets in Ingushetia
A Chechen human rights activist, journalist and employee of the human rights group Memorial, Natalya Estemirova was kidnapped on 15 July, 2009.
Several hours later, her body was found riddled with bullets on a roadside in neighbouring Ingushetia.
She was 50 years old.
The crime remains unsolved.
Why Human Rights Activists in general ?
Consider how the 2nd Chechen War was started --- Six bombs went off in Moscow apartments in the middle of the night.
Chechens were blamed and a few arrested.
But investigative Journalists wrote the bombs were placed and set off for maximum damage when people were asleep
in their apartment by Russian security forces.
Anyone who touched the subject was liquidated !
QED.
REad full report here
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