Saturday was Yuri Shchekochihin’s birthday. Of course, that was his personal day, but also it was our common one. He was not only a unique person, he also was a member of our team. He was and continues to be our anchorman. This is why a scholarship after his name is granted annually by Novaya Gazeta to young and sometimes very young promising people, who can already be considered to be accomplished. 

Generally, people get presents on their birthdays, and it happens to us that we still have to do our duty to Yura. Yes, it’s impossible to return him to life and there’s no one to substitute him. But it is within our power to get the truth about his death. We remember him always strive for the truth violently and relentlessly, and so we will do too. It’s been for five years that we were being convinced: the case is dismissed, just forget about it. We shall never forget.            

Not only on your birthday we remember you, Yura!  
Your Novaya Gazeta

We do hope the truth will out 

Investigation of Yuri Shchekochihin’s death was started and suspended three times. Every time it ended up in nothing, in particular, it ended with reference to a little known disease caused with unknown “agent” (a substance that turned on some destructive processes in the organism). No one wanted to look into the circumstances of Yura’s death, as he had been engaged in investigation of too serious matters, as a journalist and as a deputy. Those who have been hindering the investigation all these years, they have left recently the law enforcement bodies and now they are sitting in the Federation Council and the State Duma.      

As a result, it has taken 5 years that the investigation gets renewed for the fourth time. And this time it’s not just a pre-investigation check. This time a criminal case has been started on the signs of a crime under Article 105 Part 1 of the criminal code (that’s about murder). A special investigator from the Investigative Committee at the Prosecutor General’s office has been conducting the case for several months. Despite the fact that a lot of time has been lost catastrophically, we do hope the truth will be established.