A courageous journalist executed...

Leading Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot to death in the elevator of her apartment building in Moscow last Saturday.

Politkovskaya, special correspondent for the independent Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was well known for her investigative reports on human rights abuses by the Russian military in Chechnya. Her seven year long coverage of the second Chechen war repeatedly drew the wrath of Russian authorities.

My guess is that the individual or individuals responsible for her execution will never be identified. Her death could have an intimidating effect on other Russian journalists.

(Photo: BBC)