[JURIST] European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso [official website] told the press on Sunday that he intends to urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring justice to those who killed independent Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya [BBC report] on October 7 in her apartment building. Barroso implied that it would reflect poorly on Russia's international reputation if Politkovskaya's killers are not prosecuted.

Politkovskaya [BBC obituary], who had covered the crisis in Chechnya [BBC Q&A] for Novaya Gazeta [media website, in Russian; tribute, in Russian] since 1999, described torture in Chechnya [JURIST report] in a report published posthumously by Novaya Gazeta last Thursday. Journalists have been skeptical [AFP report] of Putin's promises to bring her killers to justice, with the head of Reporters without Borders in Europe noting that Russian investigators have failed to solve any of the 21 cases where journalists have been killed in connection with their reporting since Putin assumed power in 2000. Reuters has more.