Recently, , a U.S.-based non-governmental organization,released its annual survey on freedom of the press. The current reportpoints to "particularly worrisome trends in the former Soviet Union,Asia and sub-Saharan Africa."
The study reinforces the messageof a new documentary about suppression of the Russian media and theslayings of hundreds of Russian journalists since the fall of theSoviet Union. The film, , focuses on Russian journalist andhuman rights activist Anna Politkovskaya, who was killed in 2006. Shehad reported extensively on alleged Russian links to war crimes inChechnya and was openly critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Inthe middle of the Beslan school ruins, a former hostage of the schoolmassacre there, in the Beslan town of Chechnya, shows what's left ofthe school. Five years ago, during a three-day siege, armed Chechensheld more than one thousand people, most of them children. Theterrorists demanded an end to the war in Checnhya. The Russiangovernment refused negotiations. Hundreds died in the siege and in theRussian military's assault.
The attack features prominently inPaolo Serbandini's documentary . Serbandini offers it as atragic example of an unyielding Russian government bent on continuingthe war.
Dmitry Muratov, editor in chief of the Russiannewspaper , says that the Russian regime did not wantnegotiations to take place.
"It's the norm in our country," hesays. "In my opinion, there's a general doctrine that does not consistof liberating the hostages, but of the eliminations of the terrorists."
The film shows how the tragedy bolstered the resolve ofjournalist Anna Politkovskaya to criticize the Russian government forthe ongoing war in Chechnya and for human rights abuses there.
Accordingto the documentary, she had been doing that since the late '90s. Inarchival footage, she says there was an attempt on her life in 2004.She relates how during a flight en route to Chechnya she was servedpoisoned tea.
Two years after this interview, in October 2006,Politkovskaya was fatally shot. The perpetrators are still at large.Ella Asoyan, Freedom House program manager on the Caucasus, says Russiatoday is one of the most dangerous places for journalists and humanrights activists.
"Just this year, we saw two absolutelybrazen murders in broad daylight in Moscow - of Stanislav Markelov andof Anastasia Baburova," she says. "Both worked on issues of humanrights. So, you see, with the rise of impunity towards reporters andjournalists in Russia, there is no indication that this trend may bereversing."
The documentary shows that Russians have becomeapathetic and cynical about the oppression. Just two years afterPolitkovskaya's death, many do not appear concerned.
One ofthe people in the street who was asked to comment about Politkovskaya'sdeath, shrugs his shoulders. He tells the interviewer, "You see, we'reprobably less interested in this story here than you are."
The interviewer counters, "But she was the 211th journalist to be killed after the fall of the USSR."
Thenthe man on the street replies, "And there was probably the 212th, thenthe 213th [journalist killed]. What difference does it make?"
paints a bleak picture of a country it says is steeped in blood,marred by corruption and stifled by the absence of civil liberties. And although the viewer gets no relief, one is reminded that there arestill people willing to risk their lives for the truth.