BRUSSELS, 7 October 2006 - The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, expressed profound shock today about the news of the murder of prominent Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

"I condemn the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, one of Russia's most outstanding investigative journalists and political commentators," said Minister De Gucht. "This is a tragic and profoundly shocking loss, and I call upon the Russian authorities to track down those responsible as quickly as possible."

According to news reports, Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot and killed in Moscow on Saturday afternoon in the residential building where she lived.

Ms. Politkovskaya gained international recognition for her extensive reporting on the war in Chechnya. In her stories, she drew attention to human rights abuses in the region. Her work has also been published in English in the form of a book, 'The Dirty War: A Russian Reporter in Chechnya'. For her investigative reporting, Politkovskaya had on several occasions received death threats.

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, added: "It is extremely important to break the circle of inconclusive investigations in regard to the recent murders of journalists in Russia. The violent death of any member of the media stifles the free spirit of journalism. But in this case the expediency of action is extremely important also because Anna Politkovskaya was an outspoken critic of government policies."

In 2003, Anna Politkovskaya received the OSCE Prize for Journalism and Democracy for her courageous professional work in support of "human rights and freedom of the media".