Anna-Politkowskaja-Platz in Hamburg. Photo: Novaya Gazeta Europe
A square in the German city of Hamburg was renamed for the late Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya on Thursday, just days after the 18th anniversary of her murder in the lift of her Moscow apartment building in 2006.
The street sign describes Politkovskaya as a “journalist, author and human rights activist”, while the square itself features a monument to the late reporter featuring one of her best known quotations: “If I stop writing, my enemies have achieved their goal.”
The city authorities decided to rename the square in the district of Eimsbüttel in honour of the Russian journalist, with the unveiling ceremony organised by the charitable foundation Zeit Stiftung Bucerius, which supports independent journalism.
The opening was attended by representatives of the city’s executive, the Senate, and Politkovskaya’s son, Ilya Politkovsky. In his speech, he thanked the foundation, the city authorities and everyone involved in the initiative, which is the first of its kind in Germany, though Politkovskaya has already had streets, squares, gardens and a park named after her in Georgia, Italy, France and Czechia.
Monument on Anna-Politkowskaja-Platz in Hamburg. Photo: Novaya Gazeta Europe
Politkovsky described the fact that his mother’s murder remained unsolved, with those who ordered the hit still unidentified, as a source of pain for his family, Politkovskaya’s colleagues and a huge number of people around the world.
Politkovskaya gained international renown for her exposés of Kremlin corruption and the brutal treatment of civilians in Chechnya at the hands of Russian forces during the Second Chechen War.
Despite the risks that came with reporting from Chechnya and the numerous acts of intimidation and violence she was subjected to, Politkovskaya refused to give up writing. She was killed by four gunshots at point-blank range, including one to her head, on 7 October 2006.
A Moscow court sentenced the shooter Rustam Makhmudov and organiser Lom-Ali Gaytukaev to life imprisonment in 2014. Three other accomplices — Sergey Khadzhikurbanov, Ibrahim Makhmudov and Dzhabrail Makhmudov — were sentenced to 20, 12 and 14 years in prison respectively for their part in the crime, though it emerged last year that Khadzhikurbanov had been granted an early release in exchange for enlisting to fight for the Russian military in Ukraine.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2018 that the Russian government had failed to carry out an effective investigation into Politkovskaya’s murder. The statute of limitations on the case expired on 7 October 2021.