Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya (30 August 1958 - 7 October 2006) was a Russian journalist, author and human rights activist well known for her opposition to the Chechen conflict and then-Russian President Putin.Politkovskaya made her name reporting from Chechnya. She was arrested and subjected to mock execution by Russian military forces there and poisoned on the way to participate in negotiations during the Beslan school hostage crisis, but survived and continued her reporting. She authored several books about the Chechen wars, as well as Putin's Russia, and received numerous prestigious international awards for her work. She was shot dead in the elevator of her apartment building on 7 October 2006.
