Demonstrators gather in support of slain Russian journalist

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

MOSCOW (AFP) — Demonstrators gathered in Moscow on Saturday to pay tribute to slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya and draw attention to what they claimed was a lack of freedom of speech that led to her death.

With flowers and portraits of Politkovskaya in hand, those among the dozens of demonstrators spoke of her "courage" as a prominent critic of the Kremlin.

The journalist, among the few to have spoken out against human rights abuses in Russia, was gunned down in October 2006 in the hall of her Moscow building. She would have been 50 years old this year.

"Politkovskaya was the heart of Russia...it's the regime that killed her," said human rights advocate Sergey Kovalev.

Former world chess champion and outspoken Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov called...