Those who ordered her death are still unknown and free. Neither the murder of Politkovskaya, Boris Nemtsov, Nataliya Estemirova or any of the other political murders that have taken place in the Russia over the last decade have been adequately investigated.
This year’s seminar was arranged at the Faculty of Social Sciences together with the Russian Film Club at the University of Oslo. The seminar entitled Political murders in Russia focused on the political murders that we have seen in Russia the last decade, and the impunity in the aftermath of the murders – where someone is sentenced for the shooting, but investigation stops short of determening who ordered the murder or classifying it as a political murder or crime of hatred. At the seminar we had a Norway premiere of the movie «My Friend Boris Nemtsov» (2016), a close and personal portrait of the Russian politician Boris Nemtsov, who was murdered in Moscow 27 February 2015. Boris’ daughter Zhanna Nemtsova had sent a greeting to the audience where she thanked for all assistance in the case involving the murder of her father.
Before the screening, Lene Wetteland, senior adviser in the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, and freelance journalist Øystein Windstad discussed the situation for journalists and political opposition in Russia today, underlining that despite the harsh conditions, activists, journalists and opposition politicians do their very best and will not be stopped.
Anna Politkovskaya’s colleagues in Novaya Gazeta honoured her with a long investigative article on Chechnya this week, underlining that «They can kill one journalist, they can kill many journalists, but they cannot kill all journalists, and Anna’s work lives on».
The seminar was very well attended by both students and others, and shows that Anna Politkovskaya’s work and memory lives on, also in Norway.