Talk to the daughter of Anna Politkovskaya
Interview appeared in Elle, the number of July 2009
Milan, Spring 2009, Vera Politkovskaya with Marina Gersony. Photo credit: Claire Barlow
By Marina Gersony
"Yes, I remember that day, I remember him terribly well, in every single detail. It was on October 7, 2006. That morning I woke up later than usual, around 11.30. I was pregnant and I went to live with his mother because of some works that were in the final in my apartment. We had lunch together, talked of this and that and then I left to go to the clinic to do the checks. It was the last time I saw her. Later he called me and I called. We addressed the usual questions, nothing special. Shortly after I looked, but she did not answer. So I called and called and called. In the end I phoned my brother and he told me he was going home to her. He called and told me that they had killed her ... ".
With these words, Vera recalls the murder of his mother. While relating his face does not betray any emotion. Speak slowly and seconded, to those who will not let emotion get. Vera, 29, and 'the daughter of Anna Politkovskaya, Novaya Gazeta journalist inconvenient murdered in the elevator of her apartment building in Moscow. A violent death and terrible that has been around the world: a gun, four shell casings near the body, a bullet in the head. And many mysteries. Politkovskaya - is history - was conducting an inquiry into the pro-Russian regime in Grozny and the torture inflicted on fighters but also civilians in Chechnya, an investigation that has dealt a severe blow to press freedom in Putin's Russia, where several journalists - too many - were killed. Anna visited the hospitals, refugee camps, interviewing the Russian military and Chechen civilians. In his articles he did not withhold criticism on the work of Russian forces and the silence of some ministers supported by Moscow. For this effort did not like the civil power, but even that part of the population indifferent to the truth of war, blood and pain.
At the funeral of Politkovskaya was attended by a large crowd including colleagues and admirers simple. No government representative was present. The chronicles of those days that the child does not testify on his feet and was supported by his father.
I met Vera in Milan in a beautiful late spring day: clear air, warm sun, the occasional lazy gust of wind. We sat on a bench near the staircase. Vera had come to Milan for the unveiling of a plaque in honor of his mother in the Garden of the Righteous. I found myself facing a young woman smiling and aggrazziata, plain clothing, sometimes shy, but also determined to remember the battles of his mother's extraordinary that so much resembles. A much more celebrated and courageous journalist in the West than in Russia, where his memory still evokes fears and anxieties. I was impressed by the deep blue eyes and proud of Vera, with clear eyes and no fear, but most of all detectors civic passion of love for truth and justice. A Justice that his mother is not here yet. He began our interview.
Picture of Vincenzo Caico
Tell me something about you and your mother.
"I was born in Moscow. I come from a family of journalists. My mother was and still is my father. My mother was born in New York, daughter of Soviet diplomats. Later she came to Russia and after some time he asked his American passport. It had the right being born there. And so he kept pasaporto twice. "
Does it hurt to talk about your mother? (He smiles timidly, lowers her eyes and a little 'frowns).
"I'm used to speak of her mother in the last two years and I do not mind doing it. That's okay. "
It is important what you are doing.
"I'm not the only one to go around the world to talk about my mother. I have an older brother who is much busier than me. Also because I was four months pregnant when they have the shot. A few months after I delivered my baby. I have therefore focused entirely on the needs of small, but now I started to take care of Anna's case. " (Sometimes called his mother "Anna", ed.)
Does your husband help you? (He parried).
"I do not know who could affect it. I'm divorced "(In an article published in the Russian edition of Life says that her husband Askar, a Kazakh, he wanted her daughter to bring his name but that Vera did not agree. Apparently this was the pretext of separation. He then returned from his first wife in Kazakhstan, ed.)
What do you call your girl? (His face lights up).
"Anna. She is Anna. "
What day were you born?
"On 11 March 2007. When I was pregnant ... I think that life gives you a baby but it 's also able to take away someone you ... it's better to say it in Russian. " (During the interview there will be times in which it seeks to answer questions in Russian instead of English, ed.)
Say it in Russian.
"There is a philosophy of life. At a time when life takes you, and someone who loved you and 'always been close to someone makes you born again when good becomes the most important thing. "
What you get for your mother?
"There are two goals. What my brother is to ensure that the world will not forget our mother and everything she did in life. The second, main, is to shed light on what happened. We want the truth to emerge. We fight for it with all our strength. We want to discover the truth about this death, to know what is behind. We did not lose confidence. "
The Russian government will impede this research? From what has been learned from the newspapers, the impression is that the power does not like your commitment.
"I do not think they can do something against us or prevent you from doing what we are doing because the whole world is watching us, all we ask where are the tests turn out, everyone wants to know that revolves around the murder. No they can not do anything against us. "
Do you have any suspicions about who did it? (The trial of Anna ended with the acquittal of the accused, ed)
"I do not want to talk about. If I had evidence in hand, if I could say it was this or that person ... Unfortunately I have nothing. "
Currently what is your job?
"The reporter."
What kind of journalism?
"Various topics, culture, ecology. But we do not talk 'of this theme. " (He smiles with his mouth, but not with the eyes, Ed.)
Do you believe in justice?
"What do you mean?"
I mean, if you believe in an earthly justice.
"Yes, of course. But I think it is a justice other than the government and courts. It is another kind of justice, more 'subtle, more' real, more 'human. My mother and 'loved by many people. "
Are you proud of her?
"How could I not be ..."
You know that look like?
"Some say that we are identical. One day my grandmother saw my photos and realized only after it was me and not my mother. "
And what does your father?
"Continue to be a journalist. He was very popular in the nineties. After he entered the shadows'
What kind of woman was your mother?
"Everyone thinks it was a particularly strong and courageous woman. Actually 'was a woman like any other, with normal problems like everyone else. She was a woman, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, a very normal person. "
Do you miss?
"Very."
There is little Anna.
"It is not easy to explain. My child, my mother, me, there a deep connection between us. There is a hope. It is a certainty. When I was pregnant the day before ... the last day ... I spoke with my mother about what name I should give my child. I did not know if it would be a male and a female oo then I liked the men's names. Later, in the last months of my pregnancy, I knew that the name of my little girl would be Anna. It could not be so '. "
How 'Anna?
"Beautiful."
Vera takes a deep breath, narrows her eyes and looks away. And it 'as if his mom was there', this, to hear the words full of love that his beloved daughter.
