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In 2004, Anna Politkovskaya appeared in Wide Angle’s The Russian Newspaper Murders, two years before she herself was murdered.

Politkovskaya’s powerful reportage on issues such as the conflict in Chechnya and the siege of Beslan’s School No. 1 made her more than a few enemies. Under international scrutiny, then-president Vladimir Putin pledged that authorities would “do everything possible to complete the investigation” of Politkovskaya’s murder. But despite his promises, none of the current defendants are alleged to have actually pulled the trigger or ordered the hit. The Russian government claims the shooter has fled the country and two years of investigation have not uncovered his whereabouts. On trial instead are an ex-police investigator from Moscow’s anti-organized crime unit and two brothers of the suspected gunman, accused of tailing the reporter in her final weeks. None of the three have confessed or agreed to assist in the investigation. Nonetheless, in an interview with Novaya Gazeta — Politkovskaya’s former newspaper — the lead special investigator in her murder says that the case “is solved as we announce it to be solved and give names.”

A fourth defendant (and former member of the FSB, the successor to the KGB) is also being tried, not for involvement with the Politkovskaya murder, but because of his associations with the ex-police investigator. His inclusion in the group means that the trial will take place before a military tribunal rather than a civil court. One of the reasons that the judge’s decision to try the case in public is so surprising is that military trials normally take place behind closed doors as they are presumed to involve sensitive material.

Jury selection in the trial began today.

In 2004, Anna Politkovskaya appeared in Wide Angle’s The Russian Newspaper Murders, two years before she herself was murdered.

Anna Politkovskaya appearing in the WIDE ANGLE documentary The Russian Newspaper Murders two years before her own murder.

Politkovskaya was murdered two years ago at age 48 in a contract-style killing in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building on October 7, the birthday of then-President Vladimir Putin. Having won international acclaim for her reports exposing the brutality of Russian and Chechen troops in Chechnya, her murder immediately threw suspicion on the Russian and Chechen security forces. On the anniversary of Politkovskaya’s death last week, commemorative posts flooded the Russian blogosphere.

Three men are facing trial for connection with her killing: two Chechen brothers, Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov, charged with surveillance of Politkovskaya, and a Russian police officer, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, charged with providing technical support. All three deny the accusations. So far, Russian authorities have failed to identify the mastermind of the murder, and the suspected gunman, a third Makhumdov brother, remains at large.

Colleagues from Politkovskaya’s newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, lobbied to have the case opened to the public and the media. But authorities decided instead on a military trial, claiming that much of the material involved is classified.

Moskalenko, who is representing Politkovskaya’s son and daughter, is a prominent human rights attorney whose clients have included Kremlin critics such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an oil tycoon jailed by Putin in 2003; opposition leader and former chess champion Garry Kasparov; and Alexander Litvinenko, a former K.G.B. officer who was murdered two years ago after ingesting a highly toxic radioactive substance. In an interview yesterday with the television station FRANCE 24, Moskalenko reacted to her suspicious run-in with mercury: “The exact nature of the act is not clear. Was the intention to provoke or to harm us, to poison me? Those who did this clearly intended to keep me unaware of the presence of the substance. But we’re still waiting for final results from police and forensic investigations.”

The Moscow judge at yesterday’s hearing refused a request that the session be delayed because of Moskalenko’s sudden illness, and pretrial hearings began without her. The next court date is set for November 17, with jury selection scheduled for the following day.

Prior to her murder, Anna Politkovskaya appeared in WIDE ANGLE’s 2004 film The Russian Newspaper Murders boldly testifying about the risks journalists face in modern-day Russia.