FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, February 19, 2009, San Francisco — The Committee to Protect Journalists issued this statement today after a jury at the Moscow District Military Court acquitted three men of involvement in the 2006 assassination of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya:

“We respect the jury’s decision to acquit these three defendants in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya based on the evidence state prosecutors presented but we are disheartened by the continued impunity in this momentous case,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova. “No prosecution will be complete until the triggerman and mastermind are in the dock. We call on Russian investigators to thoroughly probe all leads, gather solid evidence, and bring all the perpetrators of this murder to justice.” Link