| As opposed to doing anything to protect her while she was alive. |
STRASBOURG, France - European Union lawmakers honoured murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya on Tuesday by naming a press room at the European Parliament after her.
The critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin was shot dead in 2006 in her Moscow apartment building, prompting international condemnation and heightening concerns over the safety of journalists working in the country.
‘Anna Politkovskaya was a courageous woman who fought for freedom of the press and of expression in her country,’ European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering said in a statement. ‘She is a symbol of these values and we honour that she stood for them under very difficult conditions. We want to honour her and her commitment which should not be forgotten.’
| At least until the next time you need a deal with Gasprom. |
Politkovskaya, a 48-year-old mother of two, was nominated to have her name on the press room in the assembly’s Brussels building by Liberal MEPs after she was overlooked for the assembly’s top human rights prize last year. Sudanese lawyer Salih Osman was given the award—known as the Sakharov Prize—for his work in Sudan’s Darfur region.
‘We felt it appropriate that the press room should be named after someone non-partisan and of independent mind who championed human rights and press freedom in her work before her untimely death,’ Liberal leader Graham Watson told Reuters.
| Remind me: how did she die again? Was it an 'untimely death' or was it a murder? |
The Interfax news agency reported last October that nine people, including a lieutenant-colonel in RussiaÂ’s security service, had been charged by prosecutors with involvement in the murder.
| They'll be released faster than a jihadi prisoner at the start of Ramadan. |
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