WASHINGTON, October 7 (RIA Novosti) - The United States calls on Russia to prosecute the person who ordered the killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, US Department of State spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement, timed to the eighth anniversary of the reporter's murder.
"The conviction in June of five people involved in the crime was a welcome step, but we continue to be concerned that the mastermind of her killing still has not been brought to justice. We urge Russian authorities to build on this year's convictions and identify and prosecute the person who ordered this terrible crime," the statement read.
Psaki also underscored the need to bring to justice those responsible for murders of other Russian reporters: Paul Klebnikov, Timur Kuashev, Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev, Kazbek Gekkiyev and others.
"Impunity for these crimes, as well as for many other acts of violence against journalists and activists in recent years, has only worsened the atmosphere of intimidation for those who work to uncover corruption or human rights abuses," Psaki concluded in the press release.
The investigative reporter was shot dead in the elevator of her apartment building on October 7, 2006. The murder has been linked to her professional duties, particularly to her coverage of human rights abuses in Chechnya. In June 2014, Moscow criminal court sentenced five men to prison over the arrangement of the murder of Politkovskaya.
