Natalya Estemirova Murdered Journalist – Russia Has Yet To Discard Its Soviet Cloak

The New Russia while very different from the Soviet Union of yesteryear has a way to go before the assumed freedom is a reality. This is particularly true with regard to press freedom.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union no less than 261 journalists have been murdered or died in suspicious circumstances. Only a few days ago Natalya Estemirova a Chechen rights activist was kidnapped and shot dead. Reports coming out of Russia claim that the murder could not have been carried out without official collusion.

Even her funeral was disrupted by police. The funeral procession was surrounded and the mourners forced to disperse. They were told that they needed a permit to march, “funeral processions can turn into protests” the officer in charge said.

Dodgy regimes are afraid of press freedom and tenacious investigative journalists. In this regard Russia has proved that it has yet to totally throw off its Soviet cloak.