( RIA Novosti ) - A group of parliamentarians from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe proposed Friday holding an international investigation into the murder of Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya.
Politkovskaya, known for her criticism of the Kremlin's policy in Chechnya, was gunned down in an apparent contract killing in an elevator of her apartment building October 7, 2006 in Moscow, aged 48.
A group of PACE's 34 parliamentarians from Bulgaria, Germany, Norway, Romania, Moldova, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Georgia, Albania, Serbia and Spain signed a relevant statement, in which they called on Moscow not to interfere in the investigation.
The parliamentarians also called on the countries of the Council of Europe to acknowledge a critical situation with independent journalists in Russia. According to data from the international organization Reporters Without Borders, 21 journalists have died in Russia since 2000.