This year's Edinburgh International Book Festival featured a series of afternoon readings put on by Amnesty International, showcasing the work of authors who have been, in one way or another, censored. Some of the featured authors had had their works banned; some had been imprisoned. Others were so irrepressible that the only effective form of censorship was murder.
Yesterday, Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian investigative journalist, was found shot dead. Initial reports suggest a contract killing. It was in Edinburgh last year that I found her book, Putin's Russia, a chronicle of absolutely horrific abuses of power and rights that, because to endenic corruption in the military, government, business and judiciary, go unreported and unpunished in modern Russia. The one source of optimism in the book was that, in Politkovskaya, the victims of the abuses had such a brave, articulate and honest advocate.
Reports on her death can be found here, here and here. The Guardian have posted one of her articles on Chechnya here and an interview with her here.
Make the time to read them.
Yesterday, Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian investigative journalist, was found shot dead. Initial reports suggest a contract killing. It was in Edinburgh last year that I found her book, Putin's Russia, a chronicle of absolutely horrific abuses of power and rights that, because to endenic corruption in the military, government, business and judiciary, go unreported and unpunished in modern Russia. The one source of optimism in the book was that, in Politkovskaya, the victims of the abuses had such a brave, articulate and honest advocate.
Reports on her death can be found here, here and here. The Guardian have posted one of her articles on Chechnya here and an interview with her here.
Make the time to read them.
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