Participants of Moscow meeting in memory of Politkovskaya cried for freedom

In the Pushkin Square in the centre of Moscow, a meeting was held on October 7 in memory of Anna Politkovskaya. The meeting ended with mass scansion: "We want freedom!" and "Russia without Putin!"

Despite the rain, hundreds of colleagues of Politkovskaya, who was assassinated right a year ago, as well as members of opposition parties and various public organizations, rallied together to honour the memory of the perished "Novaya Gazeta" observer.

The meeting referred to as the "Disagreement March" was opened by Dmitri Muratov, editor-in-chief of the "Novaya Gazeta," where Anna Politkovskaya had worked for many years. He quoted Anna's words: "Freedom is a labour-consuming matter."

Vladimir Lysenko, co-chairman of the Republican Party of Russia and a former Deputy of the State Duma (who was Anna's neighbour for several recent years), recollected Anna's answer to his question, whether she was afraid of being murdered in Chechnya: 'If I'm killed, it'll be done by people from here. The Chechens defend, save and love me. Indeed, I'm an envoy of peace in Chechnya, and I'd show that the Russian people are able to help Chechens and can bring them to democratic development."

The crowd voted for the resolution of the meeting, where demands are moved to the Russian authorities to find and punish the executors and customers of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an observer of the "Novaya Gazeta," and of the murders of other politicians and journalists, to hold an objective investigation into the explosions of Moscow houses in 1999, terror acts in "Nord-Ost" and Beslan, and to release and rehabilitate political prisoners.

The oppositionists also demand to give free elections back to people, start fighting corruption, cancel "the anti-constitutional law on struggle against extremism," stop pressure on the courts and ensure equal access to the TV of all public forces.

The resolution has proclaimed October 7 to be the Day of Civil Dignity.

By different estimates, the action was attended by 500-2000 persons. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent thinks that about a thousand came to the Pushkin Square to commemorate Anna Politkovskaya.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported earlier that actions in memory of Anna Politkovskaya are held in many countries of Europe - in France, Austria, Belgium, England, Poland and Finland.